Misje pokojowe ONZ w Timorze Wschodnim

The scope and intensity of international interventionism in the case of East Timor were unusual in every respect. The successive UN peacekeeping operations established in this country wielded unprecedentedly wide powers. The International Force for East Timor (Interfet) was authorized to „use any means necessary to restore peace and security in East Timor". The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) became in fact a regular government wielding absolute administrative and judiciary power over the country and enjoying the right to conclude legally binding international treaties with other states and international organiza¬tions (including the UN itself). This rather spectacular instance of international interventio-nism ended, however, in an outright failure. No lasting internal peace was instituted, the process of national reconciliation brought negligible results and the tribal animosities which were aroused in the newly created Timorese army brought the country to the verge of anarchy. It was only when Australia, being itself a major regional power and a key sponsor of the East Timor independence cause, decided to act independently of the UN institutions that the country's definite collapse could be successfully prevented. The reasons for the ineffectiveness of the international inte-rventionism in East Timor seem to stem from the East Timorese distinct political culture, whose tenets include preserving strict so¬cial hierarchy, uncompromising elitism and the paramount impor¬tance of kinship relationships. This kind of socio-cultural value set by no means could be reconciled with the Western standards of competitive liberal democracy and consensual decision-making that were to be promoted by the peacekeeping operations in East Timor.