Administration Of Kosovo Research Articles

The Role of the International Administration in the Process of the State-Building in Kosovo

The purpose of this research paper is to study the international administration in the process of the state-building in Kosovo. The paper will analyze the establishing, running and terminating the international administration in Kosovo. International administration has direct impact on state-building process. International governance in Kosovo is separated in two stages – before and after declaration of independence. This research paper will try to explain the relationship between international administration and local institutions in the process of state-building – the case of Kosovo. Two methods are used in this paper for data collection. First, process tracing theory method. Second, data collection method, through structured questionnaire with respondents from different fields. Conclusion of the paper is that, Kosovo case has shown that the success or failure of an international administration mission depends on the clarity of the establishment, development and its conclusion. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3s1p409

Considerations of Humanity: Accountability in U.N. Transnational Administration of Territory

A recent development in the domain of International Law pertains to the transitional administration of territorial units by the United Nations, on behalf of the International Community. In well known cases of East Timor and Kosovo, the United Nations Security Council passed its resolutions, 1244 (1999) and 1272 (1999), on Chapter VII of the UN charter after determining a threat to peace in the internal situations in both states and thus coming to assist those particularly weakened territorial units. The administrative units that were set up by the United Nations in this regard were on behalf of the international community to protect weakened states. These administrative units were meant to function until the states could become self-governing. All these functions and responsibilities of UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo) and UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor) were to be in compliance with the basic tenants of Human Rights, the UN Charter and the UNSC resolutions that established these Administrations. During their periods of administration, these administrative bodes committed several Human Rights violations, due to the extremely wide ambit of powers given to these bodies and extremely inefficient and minuscule control measures established over them. Through my research paper, I aim to analyze the solutions employed by the UN in the form of tribunals to hold the administrative bodies responsible. Further, I will research into the role of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal in situations like these. In continuation, I shall suggest mechanisms that may be implemented in future situations like these to ensure that Human Rights are at the core of any transnational administration set up by the United Nations and the interests of the distressed population are the primary concern of the administrative body operating in the territory. Lastly, I shall delve into the atrocities committed by the UN Peace Keeping forces, the administrative and jurisdictional difficulties in holding them accountable and possible solutions for this.

Reform of Public Administration in Kosovo

The reform of public administration in Kosovo is a crucial part of the state-building. With the administrative reform, the government aims to modernize its public administration, to strengthen its capacities and to make it more efficient and accountable. Post-conflict period in Kosovo since 1999 when begins the building of the new public administration in Kosovo until the start of the reform in administration represents a relatively challenging period for Kosovo.The reform of public administration in Kosovo is manifested in two ways: first, in relation to its own development structure and, secondly, in relation to the functions it performs, effects of its work and services that offers to institutions and citizens. Implementation of e-government in the public administration in Kosovo enables all categories of government fast services, at any time and from any distance, in order to fulfill citizens’ daily requirements.Electronic governance modernizes the administration and creates an efficient and responsible management at all levels of the administration. Through enabling of electronic services to citizens, Kosovo will be part of e-Europe.

International Administration of Kosovo as a Driving Factor in Appearance of Trafficking in Human Beings

Opinions, stances of the Albanian community about self-determination and the political demands for an independent political and territorial status of Kosovo by various colonial regimes, are longstanding. The disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was followed with wars among its constituent parts, and after the international military intervention, the peace was established in the region. By the Resolution 1244 of the Security Council of the UNO, in its 4001 meeting, adopted in June 1999, Kosovo was set under the international civil administration, which was accompanied by the deployment of military defence structure of KFOR, reaching a number of 35 000 soldiers, and the UNMIK civilian structure comprising a staff of 15 000 officials. A lot of various international non-governmental and governmental organizations were also deployed to Kosovo, which tremendously increased the presence of persons with origin of other countries. Such a situation created some favourable conditions for the criminal groups in order to expand the phenomenon of trafficking in persons to such a place as Kosovo being until 1999, trafficking in persons appeared on a low capacity and dynamics, and mainly as a transitional country with the intent of sexual use, while domestic trafficking was still unknown. However, this criminal phenomenon has been constantly increasing and reaching a concerning level, especially after 1999, on the occasion of setting Kosovo under the international administration by the UNO, the territory of Kosovo was no longer considered only a transitional country but also as destination location for the victims of trafficking in persons. The introduction and prevalence of this criminal phenomenon is as a result of Kosovo getting opened to the world, the organization of national criminal groups in cooperation with international organized criminal network. Undoubtedly, the increased number of persons originating from other countries as personnel of the international organizations to Kosovo contributed in increasing the number of trafficking in persons, because it was established that many potential clients using victims sexually were foreign citizens. Moreover, the lack of legal infrastructure on the combat and prevention of trafficking in persons as defined by international legal acts. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s5p315

Motivation Factors Impacting the Civil Servant Performance in Local Public Administration in Kosovo

Motivation Factors Impacting the Civil Servant Performance in Local Public Administration in Kosovo

The Role of the United Nations and the European Union in the Privatization of Kosovo's Socially-Owned Enterprises

The privatization of Kosovo's socially owned property and enterprises differs significantly from privatization programs undertaken in other countries, especially in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe when they transitioned from communism to democracy and free market systems. What is unique about Kosovo's privatization program is that it was designed and implemented under the authority of the United Nations at a time when Kosovo was directly administered by the United Nations. It is perhaps so far the only privatization program that was initiated and implemented by the United Nations under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Various other international organizations, such as the European Union, played a significant role in this process as part of their responsibilities in the administration of Kosovo. An obvious question is what the United Nations would have to do with privatization in the context of territorial administration under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and if the United Nation's authority to administer Kosovo would include the authority to privatize property, the legal nature of which was unclear even when it was developed in former Yugoslavia. The discussion of these and other legal questions and controversies which are related to the privatization process in Kosovo are the main subject of this article, with a focus on the role of the United Nations and the European Union in this process.

Bureaucratic Representation and Ethnic Bureaucratic Drift

The article combines research on postconflict management with public administration research by presenting a single case study on the United Nations interim administration in Kosovo. To investigate the reasons for the UN mission’s failure to implement its policies on minority relations, the study turns toward local municipal bureaucracies and offers a two-part causal argument that derives from principal–agent theory and bureaucratic representation theory. First, due to a lack of political and administrative oversight by Kosovar institutions and the UN peacebuilding mission, local municipal authorities experienced a high degree of autonomy. Second, those units within municipal administrations that were responsible for minority policy implementation did not include minority bureaucrats who could have acted as their communities’ advocates. In the absence of such active representation and a lack of top-down supervision, the municipal civil service departed from its mandate to implement affirmative policies serving the Serb and Roma community in Kosovo. The article finds that this ethnic bureaucratic drift constitutes a central explanation for the lack of minority policy implementation in Kosovo between 2001 and 2008.

The role of NATO in the demilitarization of Kosovo Liberation Army and in establishment of Kosovo Protection Corps and Kosovo Security Force

Kosovo Liberation Army was demilitarized and demobilized pursuant to Rambouillet accord articles and 1244 Resolution, under the control of military component of the international administration in Kosovo – Kosovo Forces (NATO). Establishment of Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) followed this process, with the civil emergency organizational mission, which operated until the adoption of constitution of Republic of Kosovo, promulgated on June 15, 2008. The constitution foresaw KPC disbandment and creation of a new security formation in Kosovo – Kosovo Security Forces (KSF). The decree of USA president, Xhorxh W. Bush, dated 19.03.2008 indicates the political importance of KSF creation in promotion of Kosovo’s independence.The Security Sector reform will keep its special focus in periodical review programming of KSF positional development in adaptation to new situation in security environment, reflecting concrete examples through new events, missions, tasks and roles for KSF units, always compliant with the concrete needs of the country and with the Euro-Atlantic collective protection structure standards.

Impact of civil servant salaries on the performance of local public administration in Kosovo

Motivation is defined as the willingness to exert high level of effort to reach organizational goals, conditioned by the ability of these efforts to satisfy some individual needs (Robbis / De Cenze p, 407). As motivating factors are: wage increase in career, workplace safety, work contracts, working conditions, organizational culture, leadership in working organizations, the level of responsibility at work and rewards. All these factors have different scale in motivating employee performance. Based on the theory of many authors in the field of Human Resources, presented in scientific literature, scientific journal articles, reports of international institutions (UNDP, World Bank, Human rights etc.)that explore human resources comes the conclusion that the salary is one of the most important motivating factors for employee performance level.Main problem treated in this research is the salary; salary level, its structure, the methodology of determining the current legal framework does not provide a realistic reflection based on needs and performance-oriented employees, so as it is does not motivates either increase public service quality.This work reflects over presented theoretical part from literature, scientific articles, as well from own experience and the main conclusion is that wage is motivating factors in the performance of civil servants in the public administration in local level.Research questions are; which is unsatisfactory levelwithin worker's salary?, What is the salary structure?, What is actual legal framework?, Is it wage rate based on performance or work time?For this research will be used combined methodology; first collection of the primary, secondary data, and interviews, with the objective to draw scientific conclusions of this research.The purpose of this research is to come out with recommendations for institutions to develop policies, local government, human resource managers, executives managers at all levels, but also for its employees to develop policies, to build structures and apply procedures who will enable management technology to increase the salary management system as a key influential factors for high performance level within public sector in Kosovo.

The ‘Kafkaesque Accountability’ of International Governance in Kosovo

This article explores the institutionalized and legalized forms of ‘unaccountability’ evident during the United Nation's protracted and extensive administration of Kosovo, which were implemented to protect the UN from liability in case the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was accused of human rights violations in Kosovo. Two mechanisms were put in place to review the accountability of international governance in Kosovo: the Ombudsperson Institution and later the Human Rights Advisory Panel. This article highlights how the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo systematically restricted and obstructed the operation of these mechanisms, by constraining the space for the independent and meaningful investigation of cases, by invoking immunity safeguards, and by failing to cooperate and remedy human rights abuses caused by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo. This article argues that avoiding accountability for human rights abuses can seriously undermine the legitimacy of UN peacekeeping missions, establishing negative practices and losing the trust of the local population, which ultimately encourages undemocratic practices among weak and fragile local institutions. At the global level, any attempt to take on greater international responsibility without accountability harms the prospects for establishing global institutions structured around the principles of democratic governance.

Kosovo: The International Community's European Project

This article is about the post-war governance of Kosovo and the contradiction posed by the focus on multi-ethnicity on the one hand, and the development of a new Kosovar identity that transcends ethnicity on the other. Post-war Kosovo represents a bold experiment by the international community to create a society that adheres to European standards. The international administration has based its post-war reconstruction and governance of Kosovo on standards aimed at EU accession. To this end, since 1999 the international administration in Kosovo has pursued multi-ethnicity as a panacea. Far from creating the conditions conducive to greater inter-ethnic integration, the policies enacted supposedly in the name of multi-ethnicity have resulted in the further entrenchment of ethnic division. At the same time, the international administration has promoted a new Kosovo identity that transcends ethnicity and that fits with European standards. This article questions the international administration's approach in governing post-war Kosovo with the ultimate goal of EU accession. It argues that this approach has failed both in creating a more multi-ethnic society and in creating a new identity that is embraced by the people of Kosovo. This situation in turn raises questions as to whether there is a genuine will from the people of Kosovo to fulfil such standards, and therefore whether the goal of EU integration for Kosovo is a realistic one.

Getting the Property Questions Right: Legal Policy Dilemmas in Post-Conflict Property Restitution in Kosovo (1999-2009)

The restoration of property rights after a conflict involves key legal policy decisions, such as using the domestic courts or creating ad hoc commissions, which determine the extent to which the interests of displaced persons are protected. In 1999, following the experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo undertook the difficult task of restoring possessions lost by the persons displaced as a consequence of the Kosovo conflict, as well as those of persons affected by the discriminatory laws and policies of the Milosevic regime during the previous decade.This paper describes and evaluates comparatively the most important legal policy dilemmas (use of the domestic courts, types of claims addressed and remedies provided) involved in the process and examines how they were addressed by the international administration. In this sense, the paper evaluates the design of the first mass claims mechanism, the Housing and Property Directorate, an internationally run body competent for conflict related residential property claims, and the impact of this on the implementation of its mandate. The article then analyzes the legal policy dilemmas and the internal legislative turmoil that took place within the United Nations Mission in Kosovo during the transformation of the Housing and Property Directorate into the Kosovo Property Agency, a hybrid international/domestic body competent for the resolution of private agricultural and commercial property claims linked to the conflict.The authors aim to identify and understand lessons that may be used when designing future post-conflict property restitution mechanisms to ensure both fairness and efficiency. They argue that a better predesign situation analysis, preferably at the ‘micro’ level, is needed to address the needs of the victims. The authors advocate for more comprehensive property rights protection regimes, which do not centre on the ‘return home’ policy and that take into account the interests of informal dwellers. They consider that more effective decision making is necessary at the policy level. A clearer understanding of the nature of mass claims mechanisms and of the need for procedural exclusion of the domestic judiciary in certain cases will help prevent future delays in justice and benefit the victims.

Kosovo – The Final Frontier? From Transitional Administration to Transitional Statehood

The declaration of independence by the Kosovo authorities on 17 February 2008 was an exception founded on an exception. A territory that had been subject to international humanitarian action that was, for many, regarded as being an unlawful action, exceptionally justified by a particular situation, had been placed under UN mandated transitional administration following that exceptional action. Transitional administration was also an exceptional situation: unlike other cases of international intervention and statebuilding, international actors took complete responsibility for the exercise of sovereign rights. The exception of transitional administration gave way not to a fully formed outcome but to a transitional state – one that was far from having the qualities of complete statehood, despite a claim to be independent and being backed by important and powerful Western actors. Kosovo has become a work in progress caught in a murky limbo – recognized by some states as sovereign and having independent international personality but not by the vast majority of others and blocked from membership of the UN and other international bodies because of the objections of many states and certain powerful ones. Thus, the attempt to create a ‘final frontier’ in the context of Yugoslavia's dissolution and war not only failed to be complete and satisfactory in that context initially, but it was almost immediately a precedent for dangerous developments elsewhere. This is a principal argument in the present analysis that traces the incubatory framework of the international transitional administration in Kosovo against a background of international diplomacy and questions concerning status and statehood.

Peace at Any Price: How the World Failed Kosovo by Iain King , Whit Mason (review)

reviews 757 extreme-right and brazen criminal gangs whom judges and prosecutors are terrifiedof challenging has coincided with entry into the EU. This suggests that the EU has been less concerned with political conditionality than with insisting that the economic rules forhouse membership are rigidlyadhered to. Itmight mean that the region remains stony ground for genuine political liberalism. Indeed, Pond was unable to discover any figures exercising power at national level with outstanding reformist credentials. Interestingly, itwas urban mayors, Klaus Johannis in Sibiu, Romania and Edi Rama inTirana who made themost favourable impression on her.What the 'Endgame in the Balkans' actually is remains unclear. Is it the growth of regional cooperation, signs of economic recovery, and the more sophisticated efforts of interna tional actors to promote durable reforms and uproot some of the causes of conflict?There isno mention of thepossibility thatRussia will tryto resurrect its influence by buying up valuable real-estate and energy holdings in Slavic stateswith which itonce enjoyed close links. Nor is theremuch of a discussion about the ability of the region to rise from peripheral economic status thanks to the rapid privatizations insistedupon by theEU. The future of theBalkans is still uncertain but the degree and slowly improving quality ofWestern engagement after 2000 suggests that itwill be less easy for local predatory forces to run amok as happened at the end of theCold War. Elizabeth Pond is tobe congratulated forproviding a vivid and detailed portrait of the region's politics and role in international relations which is sure to be widely used by international officials needing an accessible compendium to make some sense of theBalkans. Department of Peace Studies TomGallagher Universityof Bradford King, Iain and Mason, Whit. Peace atAny Price:How the World Failed Kosovo. Crises in World Politics. Hurst & Company, London, 2006. xx + 303 pp. Map. Appendix. Notes. Index. ?15.00. As the twentieth century came to a close, the world's attention was focused on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the former Yugoslavia. After three wars resulting from the independence bids of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, thebrief calm in the formerYugoslavia produced by theDayton Accords was shattered as Kosovo challenged Belgrade's hold on theprovince. Prior to the onset of theNATO aerial intervention inMarch of 1999, an intense debate examined the legal, political and strategic implications of the proposed humanitarian intervention. When the conflict ended after eleven weeks of massive NATO bombing, thedebate shifted to the efficacyof institutionbuild ing inKosovo and the province's final status.Just as quickly as the topic of Kovoso emerged on the agendas of theworld's leading states, itdeclined. Few studies examined the on-going multilateral effortsto repair the damage of the war and to create a stable relationship between Kosovo and Serbia. In the post-September 11era there seemed littleroom in foreign policy discourse for Kosovo's rebuilding campaign. 758 SEER, 86, 4, OCTOBER 2008 Iain King and Whit Mason provide a much-needed, timely and lucid examination of the world's treatment of Kosovo after the setdement of the conflict in 1999.They are correct inpointing out that theKosovo issue isnot solved to completion and that the failure of the international community to complete itsmission could have dire consequences for the people of South eastern Europe and the international system.They provide not only a detailed assessment of the shortcomings of the rebuilding effortbut also suggest steps that, iftaken, could salvage one ofEurope's most intractable conflicts. Beyond these important contributions to our understanding of the state of affairs in Kosovo today, King and Mason's analysis reveals the opportunities and dangers of nation-building with insights that are applicable in larger endeavours in Afghanistan and Iraq. After a brief review of the events that led to theKosovo War, Peace atAny Price: How the World Failed Kosovo is divided into twomain parts. Part One reviews the four phases of the international administration inKosovo. In that section, the authors note the slide from consolidation to confrontation and stagnation, an evolution that gravely weakened the capacity of the interna tional community to successfully promote the development ofKosovo along Western lines. Part Two isorganized around the overall successes and failures of the international effort,concluding with suggestions for...

Bridging the great divide: Contested Kosovo span is a symbol of international failure

The paper offers a first-hand insight into the situation in Kosovo shortly after its unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008 and takes a look at the unexpectedly poor results of the UN interim administration of Kosovo. Arguing against recognition of Kosovo?s independence, it draws attention to the fact that in 2007 a number of UN observers took the unprecedented step of compiling an independent analysis, which they published and circulated without filtering it through the chain of command and that in the immediate aftermath of Kosovo?s declared independence, a large number of UN field officers voiced their concerns about the international community turning a blind eye to the reality of the situation on the ground.

International Norms, Power and the Politics of International Administration: The Kosovo Case

This article examines the practices of governance enacted within the framework of the international administration of Kosovo, which was established in 1999. I analyse the complex interplay between power and the liberal-democratic norms around which the UN-led mission defined its role in the province. The international administration exercised significant power in the legal/institutional reconstruction of the province, and in its systematic attempts to socialise Kosovars into accepting Western-based norms of liberal democracy as the only reasonable foundation of their polity. At the same time, however, the norms advocated by the international administration proved to be the source of a certain degree of power for the people of Kosovo. Specifically, those norms provided the framework within which Kosovars were able to criticise the international administration, and to claim the right to greater participation in decisions regarding the province. Over the past couple of years, Kosovo has witnessed the emergence of a shared normative framework within which the international administrators and Kosovar political elites articulate often competitive truth claims about the problems of the province, and mobilise different forms of power in support of those claims.

THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY AND POST-CONFLICT KOSOVO

In the context of the unprecedented level of cultural destruction taking place in Kosovo since the international community took over in 1999, the author of this article seeks to provide an answer to two questions. First, whether the Serbian-built religious heritage in Kosovo deserves any international protection. Second, whether the two international authorities in place in Kosovo, UNMIK and KFOR, a NATO-led military force, are under any legal obligation to protect this religious heritage. Relying on the relevant international law provisions, the author determines that items of Serbian-built religious heritage in Kosovo qualify as cultural property of international value, thereby deserving international protection. Examining further the legal mandate received by the international administration in Kosovo, the author argues that both UNMIK and KFOR exercise public authority in this province, thus placing the Serbian religious heritage in question under their jurisdiction. As a result, the author concludes that the legal obligation to ensure the protection of cultural heritage in Kosovo, although normally assigned by international law to the territorial state, here devolves upon these two international entities.

The UN as Government in Kosovo

Abstract The establishment of UNMIK, the international administration in Kosovo, marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of the longstanding dispute between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians as well as a new phase in international involvement in conflict management of war-torn territories. UNMIK was not only mandated to play a central role in efforts to address the underlying cause of the Kosovo dispute, the contest between Kosovo’s independence and Yugoslavia’s sovereignty, but also to march into the largely uncharted territory of acting as the government of Kosovo. This article examines the factors that have posed major political challenges for the international administration of Kosovo and that have influenced central policy choices regarding “how to govern” and “towards what end.”

The Legacy and Lessons of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor

Introduction During the Cold War, traditional United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations had to cope with cases of international conflict, which required the UN to monitor ceasefire agreements and buffer zones. This first generation of peacekeeping operations was followed by new missions with new goals when the global order evolved. With the end of the Cold War, the UN has become involved in a second generation of peacekeeping operations, related to domestic rather than international conflicts, and requiring civilian administrations and policemen, as well as soldiers, to oversee the implementation of peace plans negotiated by the parties in conflict that have agreed to resolve their disputes at the ballot box. (1) In each case, the parties involved had earlier accepted the UN presence and, therefore, UN peacekeepers only used force to defend themselves. Meanwhile, a third generation of peacekeeping operations, which did not require the consent of the parties involved, has emerged under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Th is development overlapped with the appearance of coalitions of the willing with a mandate from the Security Council to undertake specific enforcement actions, such as the International Force East Timor (INTERFET). It was against this background that a UN mission was undertaken in East Timor, a mission seen by some as the precursor of a fourth generation of state-building operations, (2) and by others as a classic case of decolonization. (3) The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) was established by UN Security Council Resolution 1272 on 25 October 1999, endowed with overall responsibility for the of the territory and empowered to exercise all legislative and executive authority, including the of justice, during the period of transition from Indonesian until formal independence. At the same time, it also had many other tasks to accomplish, such as providing security, maintaining law and order, establishing an effective administration, assisting in the development of civil and social services, ensuring the co-ordination and delivery of humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation and development assistance, supporting capacity-building for self-government, and as sisting in the establishment of conditions for sustainable development. UNTAET's scope of responsibilities and the range of the mandate were without any precedent in the peacekeeping or peacemaking operations that came before (UNMIK [UN Interim Administration in Kosovo] is the only, but partial, exception). For the first time, the UN had sovereign control over a trust territory, and UNTAET was a trusteeship administration preparing a territory for independence. (4) In other words, there was a combination of UN governorship with the strategic objective of independent statehood. (5) As such, it was a state-building mission, and this was viewed by many as a test case. In fact, it was considered that UNTAET would have to invent a functioning state of East Timor. (6) Between October 1999 and May 2002, the territory became a laboratory for an experiment of governance, and UNTAET was the de facto sovereign in the territory. With so much at stake, and now that UNTAET's mandate has expired, it is apt to evaluate its performance. Some questions are particularly relevant. What were the results of the experiment? Did it accomplish the goals established by UN Security Council Resolution 1272? Were there any lessons learned from this experience? What kind of legacy did it leave in the new sovereign state of East Timor? The Establishment of UNTAET In 1999, after twenty-four years of occupation, Indonesia finally allowed a popular consultation -- Jakarta refused to call it what it really was, a referendum -- to take place in East Timor. (7) The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) was responsible for the organization and conduct of the popular consultation, on the basis of a direct, secret, and universal ballot. …

The United Nations Administration of East Timor

In October 1999, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1272 (1999) which established under chapter VII of the UN Charter the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). Together with the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) UNTAET is unprecedented in the history of UN peacekeeping operations with respect to the scope of the responsibilities and the range of the mandate granted to the mission. Resolution 1272 empowered UNTAET to take over all branches of government on East Timor, namely to exercise all legislative and executive authority, including the administration of justice. The purpose of this article is to examine the practice of the UN's administration of East Timor and to discuss the various legal issues arising from it. After providing an overview of the development of international peacekeeping, the article turns to the relationship between East Timor and the United Nations. The next sections deal with the mandate and structure of UNTAET and its predecessors. Then the author discusses the legal basis of the establishment of such administrations and the legal constraints on the power of the Security Council, such as human rights law and international humanitarian law. Finally, the article concludes with remarks on the UN administration of East Timor.