ABSTRACT
Intervention by invitation concerns consent as a justification for a threat or use of force by a state which would be unlawful in the absence of that consent, unless some other legal justification can be shown. The most perplexing and serious policy issue in the law governing the legitimacy of intervention by invitation would be the extent to which the consent of a state may be sufficient to legitimize the use of force by an intervening state for the purposes of maintaining or restoring internal order. The consent principle would authorize providing forcible assistance invited by a clearly democratic government in an effort to resist being replaced by a dissident group of equally clear antidemocratic and repressive intentions. The question of consent—by invitation or request—by those in a position to give consent is of the same relevance in this case as it is in others in determining the lawfulness of the ensuing intervention.
