Abstract: The international administration of troubled states—whether in Bosnia, Kosovo, or East Timor—has seen a return to the principle of trusteeship: i.e. situations in which some form of international supervision is required in a particular territory in order both to maintain order and to foster the norms and practices of fair self-government. This book rescues the normative discourse of trusteeship from the obscurity into which it has fallen since decolonization. It traces the development of trusteeship from its emergence out of debates concerning the misrule of the East India Company (Ch. 2), to its internationalization in imperial Africa (Ch. 3), to its institutionalization in the League of Nations mandates system (Ch. 4) and in the UN trusteeship system, and to the destruction of its legitimacy by the ideas of self-determination and human equality (Ch. 5). The book brings this rich historical experience to bear on the dilemmas posed by the resurrection of trusteeship after the end of the cold war (Ch. 6) and, in the context of contemporary world problems, explores the obligations that attach to preponderant power and the limits that should be observed in exercising that power for the sake of global good. In Ch. 7, the book concludes by arguing that trusteeship remains fundamentally at odds with the ideas of human dignity and equality.

Keywords: Africa, anarchy, barbarian, Bosnia, civilization, decolonization, East India Company, East Timor, English School, equality, human dignity, imperial Africa, institutionalization, international administration, international society, international supervision, internationalization, Kosovo, League of Nations, legitimacy, mandates system, paternalism, power, self-determination, self-government, society of states, trusteeship, UN