What is "odious debt"

n. (context international law English) The national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation, and thus considered to be a personal debt of the regime and not a debt of the state.

In international law, odious debt, also known as illegitimate debt, is a legal theory that holds that the national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation, should not be enforceable. Such debts are, thus, considered by this doctrine to be personal debts of the regime that incurred them and not debts of the state. In some respects, the concept is analogous to the invalidity of contracts signed under coercion.