ABSTRACT
With the adoption of Security Council resolution 1244 on 10 June 1999, the United Nations took over full administration of Kosovo and the territory became a trusteeship1 in everything but name.2 For the first time in recent history, the UN undertook the role of administering an entire territory3 and the challenges presenting themselves to international society4 in Kosovo are quite different from previous UN experience. There is thus little prior expertise to assist the UN in its dealings with the administration of Kosovo and the operation is in certain respects an outright experiment. The question is why this type of operation was chosen and whether the operation has been able to achieve the goals set out in resolution 1244.
