You, The People: The United Nations, Transitional Administration, and State-Building (review)
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During the past several decades a growing number of conquered, faltering, or failed states experienced international administration, presumably in the interest of state-building and peace-building. Simon Chesterman, Executive Director of the Institute for International Law and Justice at New York University School of Law, offers a concise, wide-ranging and well-conceived study of diverse international operations, most involving a significant United Nations role.
This single authored work speaks with the authority of a major global commission study and offers analyses and prescriptions with important implications for human rights scholars and practitioners. Important sections assess the international community's efforts regarding transitional justice, the administration of justice, and the development of rule of law capacity [End Page 735] in occupied states. On each of these themes, as with the many other dimensions of the study, Chesterman is adept at revealing the contradictions and weak points of each operation studied and offers excellent advice on needed reforms.
Transitional administration is found by Chesterman in such contexts as decolonization, transfer of territory, election supervision, military operations, peace processes, state failure, and the "war on terror." Employing this broad perspective he links and compares operations dominated by the United Nations to those controlled by conquering states or hegemonic powers.
Chesterman's major pronouncements on needed changes in UN roles are pungently worded and supported by examples from his case studies. He notes that military occupations tend to distort both transitional justice and efforts to advance the local societies' abilities to administer contemporary justice. Examples of violations of due process of law in several UN sponsored operations are discussed, especially those that occurred through that organization's interim administration operations in Kosovo. As to transitional justice, he regrets the strong tendency of the UN and its member states to accept amnesties that block prosecutions of former rulers and military officers. Chesterman seeks to advance the idea that the administration of justice, on the part of both international and local authorities, should be accepted as one the highest priorities of post-conflict peace operations.
This study also deals extensively with efforts by the UN, regional authorities, and occupying states to facilitate elections. Such work is viewed as central to needed exit strategies regardless of the sponsor of the international administration. However, Chesterman challenges the international community's, and especially the United States, declared focus on democracy, arguing instead that priority should be given to peace, security, sustainable institutions, and economic stability.
Chesterman's overall conclusions are well-supported in this thorough critique of transitional administration. Taken as a whole the efforts of the United Nations in state-building and peace-building, including those in the 1991–2003 period, are viewed as highly inconsistent, inadequate and irrelevant. The UN is shown regularly applying a wrong model to each occupation, and re-inventing new wheels when some positive approaches previously proved useful.
This book is realist in its critique of international institutions and great powers alike, frequently illustrating how and why military occupations and high politics corrupt missions, mandates and means, not least in regard to human rights. Nonetheless, Chesterman holds out hope that transitional authority can be more successful in the future if it is deployed more selectively and greater emphasis is given to such concerns as economic stability and the rule of law.
The reader will be able to apply Chesterman's analyses and recommendations to current and future cases, including Afghanistan, Iraq, and various African crisis spots. The study will help scholars, practitioners, and others to better assess particular constructive and problematic aspects of transitional administration, and perhaps lead to improvements on the ground in the operations of regional organizations, the UN, and occupying states.
Richard L. Siegel is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is currently writing a book on the death penalty as a global human rights issue.
