This book examines the concept of legitimacy as it may be used to explain the success, or failure, of key stability operations since the end of the Cold War.

In the success of stability operations, legitimacy is key. In order to achieve success, the intervening force must create a sense of legitimacy of the mission among the various constituencies concerned with and involved in the venture. These parties include the people of the host nation, the host government (whose relations with the local people must be legitimate), political elites and the general public worldwide-including...