International Legitimacy and Peace Enforcement

Abstract

International Organizations and Peace Enforcement: The Politics of International Legitimacy. By Katharina P. Coleman Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 374 pp., $91.00 cloth (ISBN-13: 978-0-521-87019-1), $40.00 paper (ISBN-13: 978-0-521-69034-8). In International Organizations and Peace Enforcement , Katharina Coleman asks why “peace enforcement” missions, which are typically promoted and led by one or more of the great powers, all unfold under the banner of an international organization—in most cases the United Nations. To answer her question, Coleman develops a theory of “international legitimacy” in which she argues that states prefer to act under an umbrella of legitimacy. Therefore, to understand why they seek the shelter of international organizations, we have to understand the foundations of international legitimacy. Coleman uses five case studies to examine her argument empirically. Three of the case studies involve African countries (Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Lesotho); the remaining two involve a European (Kosovo) and an Asian (East Timor) case, respectively. Although each case is interesting in its own right, the cases are clearly chosen because they support the thesis that international legitimacy accounts for the tendency of peace enforcement operations to be undertaken with the approval of international organizations. Moreover, each case also allows Coleman to reject an alternative explanation for why international organizations sanction state behavior. The cynic would argue that this outcome was predetermined, given that Coleman presents evidence to suggest that the entire population of peace enforcement operations were sanctioned by some …