The present study is concerned with the development and the applica tions of legal norms to situations of civil strife. It also deals in a less intensive way with problems of adjustment of these norms when the ambiance of the system changes. In particular it deals with the con cept of belligerent recognition, a standard well-suited to the needs of the international systeum nder a balance of power arrangement and to what extent this norm, which became fully developed during the nineteenth century, has been altered to meet the needs of the new international system which has been called a loose...