The GOVERNANCE blog

In the current issue of Governance, Aila Matanock of the University of California, Berkeley asks whether governance delegation agreements — international treaties by which states cede legal authority to external actors for fixed terms — can be effective in statebuilding.  The answer, she concludes, is yes, largely because these “delegation deals” have domestic support from a ruling coalition.  Matanock draws on statistical analysis of United Nations missions as well as discussion of specific cases, including the Australia-led mission to the Solomon Islands undertaken in 2003, a “canonical case of full governance delegation” that “succeeded in restoring the rule of law and strengthening governance.”  Read the article.  The article is part of a special issue on governance in areas of limited statehood edited by Thomas Risse and Stephen Krasner.