legitimacy (2)

Most Europeans would agree that the state derives its legitimacy from democratic practices and therefore that its  laws should be obeyed. Europeans would go further however an argue that the US government should be constrained by international law in not invading other countries without UN authorisation, in recognizing the ICC etc....

( I have posted the rest as an update to my previous post,  in response to a comment and picking up some points from  Will Hutton in the Observer, "Why the Euston group offers a new direction for the left" and Martin Kettle in the Guardian, "We live in changed times" )