• The first comprehensive analysis of the purposes associated with international territorial administration, from the League of Nations in Danzig to the UN in East Timor and Kosovo recently and the High Representative in Bosnia today
• Establishes international territorial administration as a 'policy institution' to rank alongside peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention in the activities of international organizations
• Explains how this activity relates to ideas in international public policy such as dispute settlement, the 'responsibility to protect', 'earned sovereignty' and the saving of 'failed states'
• Includes coverage of territorial administration by international organizations other than the UN (e.g. the EU in Mostar), the involvement of international appointees on local administrative and judicial bodies (e.g. hybrid tribunals), and the administration of refugee camps by UNHCR
• Provides the first sustained treatment of the concept of trusteeship in both international law and international public policy encompassing colonialism, occupation, the Mandate and Trusteeship systems and contemporary international peace operations
• Draws on a wide range of primary and secondary material analyzed through a broad disciplinary orientation encompassing international relations, international law, international history, political science and post-colonial studies methodologies
• Critical analysis is complemented by a comprehensive description of the legal mandates for all the international territorial administration missions, and detailed provision of citations to source materials for further reference

Readership: Practitioners in international organisations and NGOs, scholars and advanced students of international law, international relations, international organisations, international humanitarian law, and international history/policy.

Ralph Wilde, Reader and Vice Dean for Research, Faculty of Laws, University College London, University of London

"...this book is a wonderful contribution to an underexplored area of international law. The book carefully chronicles the history of the concept of international trusteeship, and provides a political and legal framework by which to appraise the legitimacy of these interventions. The book presents an impressive blend of comprehensive empirical research and insightful incorporation of legal theory. The book is extremely well-written, utilizing precise yet accessible language. This book promises to be a tremendous resource for both newcomers and experts in the field." - ASIL Book Prize Committee 2009

"Although the sweep of the activity under evaluation is very broad, Wilde does immense justice to it. Wilde's book is an elegant, provocative, and highly inspiring work. It is a major scholarly contribution to the fields of history, international law, and international relations...a must read." - Vijayashri Sripati, Human Rights Quarterly

"Dr. Wilde's review of the nature and purposes of international territorial administration is definitely a must read." - NATO Legal Gazette

"The book's nine chapters are divided in to numbered subsections. This convenient approach facilitates ease of access to content, and convenient cross-referencing, for the many users likely to rely on Professor Wilde's well-written and documented discourse...Wilde has masterfully penned a rather disquieting account of the ITA device. It has arguably failed to merge word and deed, in terms of the equality guaranteed all nations under applicable UN Charter principles. The publication of his riveting discourse focuses on the downside risk of quick-fix approaches to managing the complexities of the governed entity." - William Slomanson

"Wilde's book manages to do two things excellently, when even doing an excellent job at one would be notable...On one hand his book presents a careful theoretical expositition of his proposition, that international administration has become not only an international institution but one with continuing, unified policy objectives. It's a syndrome, a chronic condition or effort that has developed over decades, not an ad hoc, disunited band aid policy as it is presented. His case is clear and his presentation balanced and careful. On the other hand the book is a thorough empirical study of a) the universe of cases! b) over time! To document this condition as well as assess and qualify his thesis. There are great books on theory and great empirical books but when they are combined, one side almost always dominates. Wilde's book doesn't have that sort of imbalance, and the two sides complement rather than undermine each other." - Cheryl Shanks

"... an admirably thorough analysis of ITA, which takes account of all the major scholarship on the subject, together with a highly original though not entirely uncontentious interpretation of this intriguing historical phenomenonit endeavours-and succeeds-in shifting our perspective on a familiar topic. It is an important book that deserves wide readership" - Richard Caplan, University of Oxford, The British Yearbook of International Law, issue 79

"Wilde's focus on the broader issues relating to international territorial administration gives a young field a great deal of depth. His thought-provoking work, which identifies ITA as a policy institution and argues that it is part of a broader family of 'foreign territorial administration' (including colonialism), incites refelection and discourages lawyers from having a purely technocratic approach to what can be a highly technical field of law." - Lindsey Cameron, Research assistant and PhD Candidate, University of Geneva, and Rebecca Everly, PhD, currently a visiting scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, Global Law Books

"Wilde's account offers valuable insights into the nature of international territorial administration." - Anne Orford, University Of Melbourne, ICLQ Vol 59

"Wilde argues that his aim is not to discern the 'real' reasons for the projects that he considers, but 'to identify a justificatory framework to explain how the projects are understood in international policy discourse'(p.39). This broadly constructivist approach is pursued in refreshingly clear language" - Simon Chesterman, National University of Singapore, Leiden Journal of International Law, 23

1: A New Field of Analysis
2: The Institution of International Territorial Administration
3: The Idea of International Territorial Sovereignty
4: Host Territories - States and State Territories
5: Host Territories - Self-Determination Units
6: Establishing the Policy Institution: Purposive Analysis
7: Implementing International Law and Policy
8: Colonialism and Trusteeship Redux? Imperial Connections, Historical Evolution, and Legitimation in the 'Post-Colonial' Era
9: Analysing International Territorial Administration