Vigilante international law

When states or leaders use unilateral force and criminal indictments to pursue foreign rulers, they are operating under a de facto 'vigilante' theory of international law: customary enforcement by interested parties rather than rules enforced by multilateral institutions. Normalizing that practice produces legal precedent, diplomatic friction, and incentives for reciprocal covert action. — This reframes debates over legality and legitimacy of cross‑border operations by foregrounding precedent and the governance gap — it matters for alliance cohesion, rule‑of‑law consistency, and escalation management.