Introduction

Abstract

Can foreign rule ever be morally justified? At first glance, the answer to this question seems clear: Foreign rule violates the right to collective self-determination and, throughout history, has led to massive human rights violations. In Lincoln’s famous words, it is neither a government of the people, nor a government by the people. Can it nonetheless be a government for the people? Ever since the end of the First World War, liberal democracies have established international transitional administrations (ITAs) to replace dysfunctional state governments and to create the conditions for lasting peace and democracy. Recent prominent examples of this practice are Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, and Iraq. Beyond numerous practical challenges, ITAs thus turn the seemingly outdated question of whether foreign rule can be morally justified into a question of pressing practical concern: Can ITAs ever be morally justified, although they are a form of foreign rule?