The Rise of the Notion of Illegitimate Debt: a Comment on “Rethinking Sovereign Debt: Politics, Reputation, and Legitimacy in Modern Finance” by Odette Lienau

“Rethinking Sovereign Debt: Politics, Reputation, and Legitimacy in Modern Finance” by Odette Lienau convincingly challenges the notion that the norm of debt continuity is a “stable and inevitable market principle” by providing a thorough analysis of the historical and political contexts surrounding this norm. The author’s approach which goes beyond the “market narrative” on the norm of debt continuity provides significant insights into the difficult issues of debt repudiation. This approach reveals the politically and historically variable nature of the norm of debt continuity. As such, the author demonstrates the openness and the possible development of sovereign debt practices towards accepting a more flexible and non-statist approach to sovereign debt management.