United Nations Constitutional Assistance

United Nations Constitutional Assistance (UNCA) was conceived as colonial/international trusteeship in 1949. This chapter considers how the United Nations (UN) revived UNCA in sovereign states but escaped the colonial tag. Based on the UN’s official explanations, it is argued that the UN has deployed ideas rooted in international law to legitimize tutoring local actors in order that they adopt the Western liberal constitution. The UN’s four arguments therefore concerns this Constitution. The first is this constitution’s universality; the second is the neutrality of the actor producing or internationalizing this constitution which makes such internationalization non-exploitative; the third is the lawful authorization of the constitution’s internationalization which provides a legitimate basis for producing it; and finally, the temporary nature of the UN’s constitutional assistance which makes the internationalization of constitution-making temporary and so, legitimate.