Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-272) and index.

International legitimacy -- Europe and the scope of international society -- Westphalia : the origins of international legitimacy? -- Utrecht : consensus, balance of power, and legitimacy -- Revolutionary and legitimate orders : revolution, war, and the Vienna settlement -- The Versailles settlement : the making of an illegitimate order? -- Legitimacy and the dual settlement of 1945 -- Legitimacy after the Cold War -- Legitimacy and rightful membership -- Legitimacy and consensus -- Legitimacy and norms -- Legitimacy and equilibrium.

"The word 'legitimacy' is seldom far from the lips of practitioners of international affairs. The legitimacy of recent events - such as the wars in Kosovo and Iraq, the post-September 11 war on terror, and instances of humanitarian intervention - have been endlessly debated by publics around the globe. And yet the academic discipline of IR has largely neglected this concept. This book encourages us to take legitimacy seriously, both as a facet of international behaviour with practical consequences, and as a theoretical concept necessary for understanding that behaviour. It offers a comprehensive historical and theoretical account of international legitimacy. It argues that the development of principles of legitimacy lie at the heart of what is meant by an international society, and in so doing fills a notable void in English school accounts of the subject."--Book cover.