Many stakeholders consider UNDP a legitimizing partner, proposing internationally accepted values and norms.

CAMBRIDGE It s official. The International Monetary Fund has put its stamp of approval on capital controls, thereby legitimizing the use of taxes and other restrictions on cross border financial flows.

It was deplorable that certain Governments were combating terrorism by prohibiting religious acts in public schools, thereby aggravating the situation and running the risk of promoting and legitimizing discrimination against Muslim people.

Not even Israel s staunchest allies will risk an indefinite confrontation with the entire international community by supporting Israel s territorial ambitions. Reasonable border modifications are one thing legitimizing a Jewish empire is quite another.

The insurgents remain capable, adaptable and intent on carrying out attacks against Iraqi civilians, officials and security forces, with the goal of destabilizing and de legitimizing the Iraqi Government in order to pursue their own goals.

However the wording seemed to be legitimizing the giving of women in marriage and at the same time saying that this in itself was not enough but that additional compensation should be given in cash or in kind or both.

Bédié founded his power on the country s Catholics and his government on tribal membership. And he invented a legitimizing concept of Ivorian identity (Ivoirité), which was largely meant to disqualify northern Muslims as foreigners, because their tribes extended into Mali and Burkina Faso.

But, rather than calling the UN into question, states are likely to find that they need such a global instrument, with its unique convening and legitimizing powers. While the UN system is far from perfect, the world would be a poorer and more disorderly place without it.

Finally, along with the United Kingdom among European countries, France retains more of a global role than Germany has yet acquired. While the United Nations Security Council is outdated in its structure, it still plays a crucial legitimizing role and France, not Germany, is a member.

Today, some states harbor terrorists in order to attack their enemies or because they are too weak to control powerful groups. If a campaign to suppress terrorism is based on broad coalitions that focus on de legitimizing attacks on innocent non combatants, it has some prospect of success.

In contrast, Turkey s AKP still stands a chance of re legitimizing itself in the eyes of offended constituencies, because its retreat from pluralism is strongly identified with Erdoğan himself. In fact, some AKP heavyweights, including Erdoğan s longtime associate, President Abdullah Gül, believe that he badly mismanaged the recent protests.

In other words, they are the result of the policies of the United States of America and its allies, which implement policies against the interests of the entire world, with the single objective of increasing exploitation and legitimizing and safeguarding its domination of the world's markets, resources and peoples.

China s rulers see the Olympics as a stage for demonstrating to the world the exceptional vitality of the country they have built over the past three decades. And that demonstration serves an even more important domestic political objective further legitimizing the regime s continuing rule in the eyes of ordinary Chinese.

Ban can also make the case that there is no justification in today s world for terror defined here as the intentional harming of civilians for political purposes. Not just governments, but religious and other leaders need to be persuaded to denounce terror, shaming and de legitimizing those who carry it out.

Jerusalem s Arab population which already accounts for more than 40 of the total is growing by 3.5 annually, compared to 1.5 among Israelis. Once this sizeable swath of voters begins participating in municipal elections which they have so far avoided, lest they be viewed as legitimizing Israeli rule control of the city council is likely to pass to a Palestinian majority.

After decades of using concern for the Palestinian cause to shore up popular support for their own ineffective and undemocratic regimes, these moderate Arab leaders have now been put on the defensive by Iran s quest for hegemony. If Iran succeeds in being seen as the genuine patron of Palestinian national aspirations, it will also succeed in legitimizing its claim for dominance in the Middle East.

After decades of using concern for the Palestinian cause to shore up popular support for their own ineffective and undemocratic regimes, these moderate Arab leaders have now been put on the defensive by Iran s quest for hegemony. If Iran succeeds in being seen as the genuine patron of Palestinian national aspirations, it will also succeed in legitimizing its claim for dominance in the Middle East.

The same applies to the Islamic Group, a movement implicated in violent acts in almost a dozen countries throughout the 1980 s and 1990 s, including armed insurgency in Egypt, bombings in the United States and Croatia, assassination attempts in Ethiopia, and training camps in Afghanistan. In the 2000 s, the imprisoned leadership of the Group produced more than 25 books aimed at de legitimizing political violence as a method for change.