From Imperial Commissioner to High Representative: Forced Administrations in Historical Comparison (17th to 21st Century)

A conference on the occasion of the anniversary "300 Jahre Liechtensteiner Oberland" 2012 

From 1684 to 1699/1712, the imperial rule of Schellenberg and the imperial county of Vaduz were under forced administration by the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. At the end of this period, the County of Vaduz was sold to Prince Johann Adam I of Liechtenstein, who celebrated his 300th anniversary in 2012.
Based on this example, the conference presented cases and forms of forced administration of territories by superordinate institutions from the 17th to the 21st century. Historians, international law experts, and political scientists discussed, among other things, parallels and differences in historical comparison.

 
In early modern times, the imperial administration was a rare but not unique instrument of imperial politics. In the 19th century, the prerequisites for forced administration by a unit superior in state or international law were largely lacking, but from 1919 onwards, with the League of Nations and from 1945 onwards with the United Nations, international organisations existed which, until decolonisation, provided a framework under international law accepted as legitimate for the forced administration of unstable areas or areas found incapable of self-administration (mandate/trust territories). Since the 1990s there has been an increase in international transitional administrations, for example in Kosovo and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The conference contributions were published in 2014 in the conference proceedings "Zwangsadministrationen. Legitimate Foreign Administration in Historical Comparison (17th to 21st Century)".

Project duration: 2012