The assumption of public authority by international actors raises not only issues of legality, but also questions of public legitimacy. International territorial administration is a prime example of the exercise of public authority by a non-state entity. This makes it necessary to devote some more thinking to the legitimacy of transitional administrations, and to their role and place in the debate over legitimacy beyond the state more generally.

Features of international territorial authority

The authority exercised by international administrations is a special form of authority. It has two dimensions. It bears significant resemblances to state authority, but remains related to an external framework of reference, namely the legal order under which the international entity is constituted. In particular, this internal dimension of authority is of special interest. This type of authority is exercised either in conjunction with or at the place of domestic organs. Moreover, it has immediate effect on domestic actors. The exercise of legislative, executive and judicial functions by international administrators within the framework of governance missions come very close to replicating the traditional power structures between a state and its people in practice. This substitution raises fundamental questions of legitimacy.

Models of legitimation

Although international territorial administrations are frequently involved in the exercise of governmental functions performed by states, traditional strategies of legitimising public authority cannot simply be transferred to international territorial administrations. Democratic concepts of legitimacy which legitimate the authority of a government towards its people do not apply in the same fashion to international administering authorities as they are typically authorised or appointed by a decision of an independent international organisation.