 But assuming that a right to rule is an assertion plausibly imputable to international law and institutions, how can we determine whether it is ever justified? The question is rendered all the more acute by the fact that in recent decades international law has increasingly asserted a more expansive right to rule, one that encroaches into areas previously regarded as belonging to the domain of state authority, including such matters as the basic rights of its own citizens, economic and environmental policy, and the provision of vital goods such as education and health care.