Law among liberal states: liberal internationalism and the act of state doctrine.

A model based on liberal internationalism explains the paradoxical application of the act of state doctrine in Banco Nacional de Cuba v Sabbatino and subsequent decisions. According to the model, liberal states, those nations with representative governments, market economies and constitutional civil rights, act differently toward one another than toward nonliberal states. For example, courts are willing to judge the validity of laws of other liberal states, but issues concerning nonliberal states are treated as political questions outside the legal realm.