ABSTRACT
Nation-building in the UNTAET era 1999-2002 Established by UN Security Council Resolution 1272, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) governed East Timor from October 1999 until the restoration of independence on 20 May 2002. UNTAET exercised all legislative, executive and judicial authority, and oversaw the process of developing a constitution, through the means of an elected Constitutional Assembly (CA) in 2001. This was a critical period for the development of the nation-state to come, with the dissolution of the CNRT in advance of multi-party elections. It also saw the return of large numbers of displaced East Timorese from West Timor, and of the international diaspora, to a dramatically changed society.
