This book analyses the role of legitimacy in explaining local actorsâ compliance with international peacebuilding operations. The book provides a comparative micro-level study of local actorsâ reasons for compliance with or resistance to international peacebuilding. Specifically it analyses three pathways to compliance âlegitimacy coercion and reward-seeking â to explore local police officersâ compliance with the reforms stipulated by the EU Police Mission in Bosnia and the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo. The work constructs a holistic framework of the mechanisms connecting each pathway to compliance and measures legitimacy using micro-level indicators. This study not only shines light on the question why local actors comply a crucial factor in mission effectiveness but it also illuminates exactly how compliance works. The book contributes nuanced evidence about the often-heralded importance of legitimacy in peacebuilding showing exactly in which situations local legitimacy matters and in which it does not. It is also highly relevant for policy-makers as it unpacks and explains the mechanisms behind local legitimacy assisting in understanding this usually nebulous concept. This book demonstrates the need for micro-level analysis by revealing the relevant processes of legitimation usually hidden behind commonly perceived social fault lines such as the Serb-Albanian divide in Kosovo. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding war and conflict studies Balkans politics security studies and International Relations. . Language: English