Introduction: the challenge to patrimonial conceptions of sovereignty

The Mandate system and the extent to which the notion of trust was operationalised for the governance of peripheral territories provides the framework – understood as a German Rahmenerzählung, in which one story is told within another – for this chapter which traces the curious events that led to the internationalisation of the territory once known as South-West Africa. It seeks to embed the narrative of Namibia's international administration in a ‘fiduciary frame’ that spanned the Mandate and Trusteeship systems.

The analysis of the Mandate system and its transition to the UN Trusteeship system is a particularly rewarding task. The fascination stems from insights gained in appreciating the extent to which the normative repository of international law was accessed – and, while doing so, further developed and expanded – to enable a more effective response to anomalous situations.