what is East Timor, and what does it mean to be East Timorese?
This surely requires marking out some notion of culture, society, history and tradition which, at least in spirit, works against the solemn oaths. 4. Institutional Legacies The final consideration with which we should deal concerns embedding political change. It is a question of establishing a robust legacy. In the case of the International Community, lack of the sort of prior social construction that marked European empire makes the imperative of institution building that much greater. The important thing becomes to leave behind a social order established beyond the reach of the political process. In this endeavour, law and constitution-making are central. Ideas can change; political allies can depart the scene; rhetorical exhortations and even foundational events may lose their cultural significance. UNTAET will one day be a distant memory but its structural legacy of laws and institutions will not. In terms of the constitution, for example, various specific principles are being embe
