In this book, Michael Poznansky asks why countries sometimes pursue activities such as regime change in the shadows rather than out in the open for the world to see. He finds that international law plays a key role in this decision-making process because senior government officials, especially in the United States, are sensitive to brazenly violating rules surrounding when countries should and shouldn't intervene in the internal affairs of others. He argues that
while the existence of such restrictions don't always prevent great powers from undertaking regime change when it suits their interests, they do have meaningfully impacts.