Description
Internationalized territories, or cases in which multiple external actors cooperatively govern a territory, are an exceptional and understudied phenomenon in international relations. This paper, excerpted from a broader project on internationalization, investigates the conduct and consequences of international territorial rule. Cases of internationalization generally occur in spatial zones of great power overlap and are characterized by the imposition of local order in the service of external interests. In this paper, I identify a trade-off in which internationalization can be a useful neutralization measure in the short-run but cannot be sustained as a long-run solution. This long-run failure, I argue, is due to inherent contradictions of attempts to impose international management on the problems of the state system. Using the lens of technocratic internationalism, I identify these elements of self-undermining failure in the League of Nations cases of Danzig and the Saar as well as in more recent UN missions. My research identifies a heretofore overlooked pattern in international history, showing when, why, and how international authority circumvents the state. In doing so, I contribute to the scholarly literatures on international interventions, local responses to globalization, and alternatives to the nation-state.
