Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The ‘state-building enterprise’: Legal doctrine, progress narratives and managerial governance
- 2 Democratisation, state-building and politics as technology
- 3 International law, human rights and the transformative occupation of Iraq
- 4 Defining democracy in international institutions
- 5 Democracy and legitimation: Challenges in the reconstitution of political processes in Afghanistan
- 6 Impossible expectations? The UN Security Council's promotion of the rule of law after conflict
- 7 Legal pluralism and the challenge of building the rule of law in post-conflict states: A case study of Timor-Leste
- 8 From paper to practice: The role of treaty ratification post-conflict
- 9 Selective universality? Human-rights accountability of the UN in post-conflict operations
- 10 ‘Security starts with the law’: The role of international law in the protection of women's security post-conflict
- 11 Grappling in the Great Lakes: The challenges of international justice in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda
- Conclusion: Hope and humility for weavers with international law
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The ‘state-building enterprise’: Legal doctrine, progress narratives and managerial governance
- 2 Democratisation, state-building and politics as technology
- 3 International law, human rights and the transformative occupation of Iraq
- 4 Defining democracy in international institutions
- 5 Democracy and legitimation: Challenges in the reconstitution of political processes in Afghanistan
- 6 Impossible expectations? The UN Security Council's promotion of the rule of law after conflict
- 7 Legal pluralism and the challenge of building the rule of law in post-conflict states: A case study of Timor-Leste
- 8 From paper to practice: The role of treaty ratification post-conflict
- 9 Selective universality? Human-rights accountability of the UN in post-conflict operations
- 10 ‘Security starts with the law’: The role of international law in the protection of women's security post-conflict
- 11 Grappling in the Great Lakes: The challenges of international justice in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda
- Conclusion: Hope and humility for weavers with international law
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In February 2008, on opposite sides of the world, two fledgling states faced decisive moments. In south-east Asia, attempts were made to assassinate both the president and prime minister of Timor-Leste. The prime minister, Xanana Gusmão, narrowly escaped harm. The president, José Ramos-Horta, sustained life-threatening bullet-wounds. The assassination attempts and the political instability of the country called into question Timor-Leste's viability as an independent state. Meanwhile, in south-east Europe, the Kosovo parliament declared independence. This was welcomed warmly by some countries, such as Australia, France, Germany and the United States, which promptly recognised the new state. But others, such as China, Russia and Spain, condemned it. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, claimed that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence upset the fabric of international society and that a proposed European Union mission to provide support for Kosovo amounted to a violation of international law. Outbreaks of violence in the Serbian capital Belgrade and along the border between Serbia and Kosovo illustrated the fragility of the new state of Kosovo and cast a cloud over independence festivities.
There is no small irony in the fact that Timor-Leste and Kosovo are struggling for their futures. Although there are many differences between the two countries, both served as late-twentieth-century laboratories for a new wave of experiments in state-building.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Role of International Law in Rebuilding Societies after ConflictGreat Expectations, pp. 1 - 14Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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