The domestic and the international as normative discourse

the legitimation of the force employment

Abstract

The object of this article is the deployment of armed forces within state borders. This phenomenon is referred by the literature as a disruption of the normal functions of the state instruments of force. I argue that the normality benchmark presupposed by the literature does not reflect the description of a historical pattern, but consists in the normative theoretical model that founded International Relations field, dividing the world in political unities domestically pacified and an anarchical international system. This framework overlaps territory, political authority and community, which precludes the scholars to understand the historical recurrence of the domestic deployment of the armed forces, as well as the cases in which these military operations within state boundaries is incorporated to legal and social normality. I analyze each one of the elements that compose this theoretical model and stress its coalescence. In order to fill this gap identified, I propose an approach based on the process of legitimation, through which the use of the military inside national borders becomes acceptable.