This research project shows—legitimation matters! The question I wanted to answer is—how does legitimation work, though? The puzzle this study started out on is that the use of force and application of violence in the war on terror needed consolidation with violence-regulating norms. This research project then asked how the Presidents Bush, Jr., and Obama have practiced legitimation to consolidate the conflict between security interests and violence-containing norms. Building on the discussion of an extensive body of research on norm conflicts in the war on terror in political and legal science in Chapter 2, I discussed legitimation as a strategic political practice in consolidating norm conflicts and innovatively transforming violence-containing norms towards violence-enabling norms.