From benchmarking to final status? Kosovo and the problem of an international administration's open-ended mandate

Abstract

This contribution examines certain inherent shortcomings of an 'open-ended' institution-building operation for which the future status of the entity in statu nascendi remains undecided. It first addresses the policy of conditionality through which Kosovo's international administration attempts to measure the performance of local institutions against imported 'standards'. The external representation function of an international administration acting on behalf of a non-state territorial entity, as an agent of necessity, is then analysed, considering recent and little-known developments and suggesting that UNMIK's practice supports the argument that 'internationalized' territories possess limited legal personality. Turning 'inward' to a sphere of domestic governance, the contribution highlights some of the problems encountered with regard to the privatization of public assets in Kosovo. Here, it argues that UNMIK is awkwardly caught between the pursuit of both the interests of the territory under its administration and the collective interest of the organized international community - two sets of interests which can collide head-on. The article concludes by suggesting that an international territorial agent should not, as a rule, attempt to mediate a solution, but endeavour to represent the territory in good faith. © EJIL 2005; all rights reserved.