International administrations are still being considered as a solution to many difficult conflicts globally. This book develops a new understanding of sovereignty, focusing on how international officials make claims to rule. Nicolas Lemay-Hébert argues that sovereignty is best understood as a set of practices, more precisely struggles between actors vying to assert their political authority and another set of actors striving to keep this political authority under check. This book examines all the cases of international administrations by the League of Nations and the United Nations, focusing on how international officials have made claims to assert their political authority over specific territories and populations. It also reviews all the accountability demands expressed by local actors and how these demands shape the future practices of international administrations.

‘By zooming in on UN transitional administrations, the book investigates broader dynamics in international politics and law. It is a story about the politicisation of international bureaucracies, the transformation of policies during implementation, and the interplay between local, national, and global governance. It is one of the best books on international organisations ever written, unique in its longue durée view.’

Kseniya Oksamytna - Reader in International Politics, City St. George's, University of London. Author of Advocacy and Change in International Organizations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023)

‘Prof. Lemay-Hébert has delivered an excellent project, mobilising a sociological approach to international relations to understand the progressive development of international administrations by international organisations. The book takes us from the League of Nations to the United Nations, from the Congo to Haiti, unearthing 'hidden transcripts' of the powerful along the way and shedding light on practices of sovereignty by international officials around the world. The result is a very compelling read, and a clear statement about the future of the study of sovereignty in international relations.’

Guillaume Devin - Emeritus Professor, Sciences Po Paris