Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-207) and index.

Legal and judicial reform and the United Nations : early practice and assumptions -- Introduction to the case studies : assessment criteria, case study guidelines and case selection -- The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo -- The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor -- Legal and judicial reform reconsidered.

At the end of the twentieth century, and at the dawn of the twenty-first, the United Nations was tasked with tha administration of justice in territories placed under its executive authority, an undertaking for which there was no established precedent or doctrine. Examining the UN's legal and judicial reform efforst in Kosovo and East Timor, this book argues that rather than helping to establish a sustainable legal system, the UN's approach detracted from it, as it confused ends with means. In the process, justice standards were sacrificed for the sake of prosecutions; the legal vacuum was not filled effectively; the UN's desire to create functioning courts exceeded its effort to deal with detainees; local ownership was erroneously as a means to the end of achieving a sustainable legal system; and the UN's adoption of rights standards unsuited to the circumstances led it to break its own laws. As a result, instead of easing key tensions at the heart of governance operations, the UN's approach aggravated them. Offering the first full account of the UN's endeavours with the administration of justice in governance operations and suggesting methods by which these efforts can be improved upon, United Nations justice will be of interest to academics and practitioners in law, political science, ethics and applied philosophy, and transitional justice.