ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses how can the principles of effectivity and legality coexist, and what protection can the emerging principle of legality provide to the subjects of sovereign states as opposed to the effectivity of their governments. It also addresses which measures can be internationally taken to shield defenceless people from the barbarity of some governments? Which decision processes are to be followed internationally in the implementation of the principle of democracy? The chapter demonstrates that the concept of legitimacy has become a norm of modern international law: the legitimacy of governments is monitored by international institutions on the basis of well-defined parameters. It examines whether the international legal system has actually evolved towards the direction Oscar Schachter was hoping for. The chapter also examines how much the development of human rights in the global system has eroded the principle of sovereignty. The advent of a multilateral system deeply modified the traditional balance between effectivity and legality.
