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In 1927 Russian-American legal theorist Alexander Sack introduced the doctrine of \u201codious debt.\u201d Sack argued that a state\u2019s debt is \u201codious\u201d and should not be transferable to successor governments after a revolution, if it was incurred without the consent of the people; and not for their benefit.\n\nThis doctrine has largely been rejected, with a firm presumption of \u201csovereign continuity\u201d emerging instead: post-revolutionary governments must repay sovereign debt even if it was incurred to cover the personal expenses of plutocrats. If they fail to do so, their credit reputation is harmed. As Odette Lienau\xa0explains in a striking line, \u201cwe can now imagine prosecuting the leaders of a fallen regime for crimes against a state\u2019s population while simultaneously asking that population to acknowledge and repay the fallen regime\u2019s debts.\u201d\n\nIn\xa0Rethinking Sovereign Debt:\xa0Politics, Reputation, and Legitimacy in Modern Finance\xa0(Harvard University Press, 2014),\xa0Lienau\xa0unfolds the historical conditions from which this seeming inconsistency emerged. Seamlessly moving between case studies from the early 20th\xa0century to the present,\xa0Lienau\xa0discusses several different versions of this puzzle. Ultimately,\xa0Lienau\xa0ends up rejecting \u201csovereign continuity,\u201d and arguing for the recognition of \u201cprincipled default.\u201d\n\nWith revolutions and uprisings across the Middle East, and in Ukraine, this book\u2019s argument will likely provoke lively discussion among lawyers, economists, political theorists, and historians. But lay people should ideally engage with the ideas as well. The book gives an extraordinary point of access into what is at stake in the work of enormous international organizations, such as the World Bank.\n\n*Photo by\xa0Frank DiMeo\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law