ABSTRACT
International administrations, like protectorates and trusteeships before them, derive their legitimacy in part from the notion of trust. Using international power to impose particular outcomes also raises questions about the implications of such actions for the development of local political culture and institutions. This issue has perhaps been sharpest in Bosnia, where the gap between local and international aims has sometimes been very wide. Difficulties were created as a consequence of the post-ballot violence and the need to deploy a multinational peacekeeping force. The mission was then transferred from the UN's Department of Political Affairs (DPA) to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). On 19 October 1999 Xanana Gusmao, President of the National Council of East Timorese Resistance (CNRT), forwarded proposals for a transitional administration to the UN, but these was effectively ignored. Lack of formal accountability to the affected population can inhibit efforts to build local capacity.
