The evolution and practice of international administration on states and territories

Throughout the history of relations between states, it can be seen that various forms of supervision for weaker states or territories, whether external (by militarily and economically stronger individual states) or international (by intergovernmental organizations), have been established for periods of time in the form of protectorates, mandates, tutelage or temporary multinational administration. With the emergence and institutionalization of a new universal international organization, the League of Nations, the practice of external oversight and control of specific territories and states continued, but with a novel legal regime under its mandate system. The legal basis for the management of these territories through the authorization of the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations, the rights and obligations of such countries as well as the most significant differences between the mandate, trusteeship and the protectorate arrangements, as the most representative example of international governance over certain countries and territories, will be analyzed in this paper. The comparative and content analysis methods will be used for this purpose, with special emphasis on the practical effects of international administration on the functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina.