Powers of High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina ‘reminiscent of a totalitarian regime’ – February 2007: Constitutional Court challenges decisions of the High Representative for being contrary to Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights – Order of the High Representative: execution of the Court's decision contrary to Article 25 UN Charter – Ruling by command may lastingly hinder democratic development

The concept of democracy has long fuelled controversy among international legal scholars, especially concerning its definition. This article is an attempt to single out three constitutive elements of democracy that have been subject to extensive scrutiny in the practice of electoral assistance and the more comprehensive peace-building and state-building missions that the UN has taken up or supported since the end of the twentieth century: freeand fair elections, freedom of association – with emphasis on the freedom to establish political parties – and freedom of expression. In doing so, this paper examines the role and the importance of each of these three constitutive elements in the practice pertaining to post-conflict reconstruction of Kosovo, East Timor, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

On 2 February 2007 the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General unveiled a comprehensive proposal for a supervised independence of Kosovo with a view of clinching the last chapter of the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. This proposal constitutes a further attempt by the international community of states to bridle the volatile and unpredictable phenomenon of statehood. The state of Kosovo that is envisaged by the Status Settlement is to be endowedwith all the features that are nowadays seen as indispensable for the establishment of a modern government apparatus, a tendency that had already beenobserved in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina or East Timor. The proposed regulation of statehood in this case, however, proves to be of an unprecedented extent. Against that backdrop, the article grapples with the legal questions revolving around the independence of Kosovo, including secession, recognition, succession, international supervision, self-determination, and membership of international organizations.

International Administration — Specialized Agencies of the United Nations — Status and Immunities of — Specialized Agency Operating in Occupied Territory — Whether Entitled to Same Immunities as in Territory of Occupant — Legal Position of International Refugee Organization in Occupied Germany.

International Administration — Juridical Status of International Bureau of Weights and Measures — International Conventions of Paris (May 20, 1875) and Sèvres (October 6, 1921) — Jurisdiction of French Courts.

International Administration — International Character of Sanitary and Quarantine Council of Egypt — International Health Convention of Venice, 1892.