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24 The study outlined in this article constitutes part of the author's PhD research. This research involved a detailed review of the theoretical literature and of the primary and secondary literature relating to Timor-Leste. Field research was conducted in Timor-Leste in June-July 2009, April–May 2010 and September–October 2010 and in Australia in December 2009–February 2010. As Timor-Leste is a sensitive post-conflict environment, the names of all interviewees have been kept anonymous. Readers who wish to replicate, or build upon, this study should contact the author for referrals and advice.

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27 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (2002), section 1; section 6(b).

28 Ibid., Part II.

29 Ibid., section 74.

30 Ibid., section 92.

31 Ibid., section 104.

32 Ibid., section 65(1).

33 Ibid., section 65(4). The Constitution leaves it to the Parliament to regulate the manner in which these elections will be conducted (section 65(5)).

34 Law on the Election of the National Parliament 6/2006 (2006), article 9.

35 Ibid., article 12(2).

36 Constitution, section 137(2).

37 Pugh, ‘The Political Economy of Peacebuilding’, p. 25.

38 Constitution, section 118.

39 Ibid., section 146.

40 Ibid., section 147.

41 Ibid., section 5(1); section 71(1).

42 Andrew McWilliam, ‘Customary Governance in Timor-Leste’, in Mearns (ed.), Democratic Governance in Timor-Leste, p. 133.

43 Fieldwork observation, June–July 2009; April–May 2010; September–October 2010; Brown, M. Anne, ‘Security, development and the nation-building agenda – Timor-Leste’, Conflict, Security and Development, 9:2 (2009), pp. 141–64, 151CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Palmer, Lisa and de Carvalho, Demetrio do Amaral, ‘Nation building and resource management: The politics of ‘nature’ in Timor Leste’, Geoforum, 39:3 (2008), pp. 1321–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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47 Ibid.; member of parliament, Locating Democracy Symposium.

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49 Ibid., section 138.

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57 Mearns, Looking Both Ways.

58 A survey of uneducated, small-town residents and older women in 2003 found that one third of the respondents had no idea what the Constitution meant. Of the other respondents, 28 per cent saw the Constitution as the source of law; 8 per cent believed it meant law and order; 7 per cent saw it as ‘the rules for an independent country’; and 15 per cent understood it vaguely as ‘a way of life or guidance for citizens’. Asia Foundation, Law and Justice in East Timor: A Survey of Citizen Awareness and Attitudes Regarding Law and Justice in East Timor (Dili: Asia Foundation, 2004)Google Scholar.

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61 Fieldwork observation (June–July 2009; April–May 2010; September–October 2010); interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (14 May 2010).

62 Fieldwork observation (June–July 2009; April–May 2010; September–October 2010); Boege et al., On Hybrid Political Orders, p. 9; Brown, ‘Security, development and the nation-building agenda’; Hohe and Nixon, Reconciling Justice; McWilliam, ‘Houses of Resistance in Timor-Leste’; Mearns, Looking Both Ways; Ospina and Hohe, Traditional Power Structures; Babo Soares, Dionisio, ‘Challenges for the future – challenges and potential conflicts’, in Fox, James J. and Soares, Dionisio Babo (eds), Out of the Ashes: Destruction and Reconstruction of Timor-Leste (Canberra: ANU E-Press, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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64 Law on the Election of Suco Chiefs and Suco Councils No. 2/2004 (2004).

65 Decree Law on Community Authorities, section 1.

66 Ibid., section 2.

67 Ibid., section 6.

68 Law on Community Leaderships and Their Election No. 3/2009 (2009), section 16.

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72 Interview with a suco leader, Dili (28 September 2010); interview with an international governance advisor, Baucau (3 May 2010); interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010); Silas Everett and Butch Ragragio, ‘Decentralisation in Timor-Leste: What's at Stake?’, Asia Foundation Weekly Insight (24 June 2009), available at: {http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2009/06/24/decentralization-in-timor-leste-whats-at-stake/}.

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81 Parliament Resolution on the Rules of Procedure of the National Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (Jornal da República, nr 40 (11 November 2009), article 46; interview with a Timorese justice advisor, Dili (12 May 2010).

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84 Constitution, section 40(1).

85 Ibid., section 46(1); section 41.

86 Kingsbury, Damien, ‘Political development’, in Kingsbury, Damien and Leach, Michael (eds), Timor-Leste: Beyond Independence (Clayton: Monash University Press, 2007), p. 26Google Scholar.

87 Interview with a Timorese governance advisor, Dili (23 April 2010).

88 Interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (14 April 2010).

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95 Boege et al., On Hybrid Political Orders, p. 12; Brown and Gusmao, ‘Peacebuilding and Political Hybridity’.

96 Ibid.

97 Tanja Hohe, ‘Totem Polls’, p. 82.

98 Interview with a Timorese government official, Dili (27 April 2010).

99 IRI, National Opinion Poll: Timor-Leste, November 2003 (Dili: International Republican Institute, 2003)Google Scholar.

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101 Boege, et al., ‘Hybrid Political Orders’, p. 18.

102 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (10 May 2010); interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); Hohe, ‘The Clash of Paradigms’; Ospina and Hohe, Traditional Power Structures.

103 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (10 May 2010); Boege, et al., ‘Hybrid Political Orders’; McWilliam, ‘Customary Governance in Timor-Leste’; Ospina and Hohe, Traditional Power Structures.

104 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (10 May 2010); interview with a member of parliament, Dili (11 May 2010).

105 Interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); Josh Trindade, ‘Reconciling Conflicting Paradigms: An East Timorese Vision of the Ideal State’, in Mearns, Democratic Governance in Timor-Leste.

106 Trindade, ‘Reconciling Conflicting Paradigms’, p. 172.

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108 Ibid.; interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); interview with a suco chief, Dili (28 September 2010); Hohe, ‘Totem Polls: Indigenous Concepts’.

109 Boege, et al., ‘Hybrid Political Orders’.

110 Brown and Gusmao, ‘Peacebuilding and Political Hybridity’, p. 68; Ospina and Hohe, Traditional Power Structures.

111 Constitution, section 118(1).

112 Presidential decree No. 53/2008 of 19 of May 2008, Presidential Pardon; Gusmao, Xanana, Timor Lives! Speeches of freedom and independence (Alexandria: Longueville Media, 2005)Google Scholar.

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114 For example, in 2003 in relation to the draft Immigration and Asylum Law, or in 2008 in relation to the state's mid-year budget. See Grenfell, ‘Promoting the rule of law’.

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116 Interview with a Timorese justice advisor, Dili (12 May 2010); interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (14 May 2010).

117 Interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (12 May 2010); Richmond, Oliver P. and Franks, Jason, ‘Liberal Peacebuilding in Timor Leste: The Emperor's New Clothes?’, International Peacekeeping, 15:2 (2008), pp. 185–200CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Trindade, ‘Reconciling Conflicting Paradigms’.

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119 Boege et al., On Hybrid Political Orders, p. 12.

120 ICG, Handing Back Responsibility to Timor-Leste's Police, Asia Report No. 180 (Dili and Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2009)Google Scholar; ICNAT, The Justice System of Timor-Leste: An Independent Comprehensive Needs Assessment (Dili: Independent Comprehensive Needs Assessment Team, 2009)Google Scholar.

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122 Avocats Sans Frontieres, Access to Legal Aid in Timor-Leste – Survey Report (Dili: Avocats San Frontieres, 2006)Google Scholar.

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126 When members of the public were asked ‘Which institution/individual has primary responsibility for maintaining security in your locality?’, 38 per cent identified their suco (village) chief; 19 per cent identified community leaders; and 18 per cent identified elders. Therefore, a total of 75 per cent of respondents identified community leaders, as compared to 15 per cent who identified the PNTL. Asia Foundation, A Survey of Community-Police Perceptions: Timor-Leste in 2008 (San Francisco: Asia Foundation, 2008), p. 23Google Scholar.

127 Ibid.

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129 Asia Foundation, Law and Justice in Timor-Leste.

130 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010).

131 Ibid.; Gusmao, Timor Lives!, p. 122.

132 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010); Mearns, Looking Both Ways; Gusmao, Timor Lives!.

133 Asia Foundation, Law and Justice in Timor-Leste; Avocats Sans Frontieres, Access to Legal Aid.

134 Grenfell, ‘Promoting the rule of law’, p. 228; interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010).

135 Asia Foundation, Law and Justice in Timor-Leste; interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (10 May 2010).

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142 Asia Foundation, Law and Justice in Timor-Leste.

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147 Ibid., p. 269; Soares, ‘The Challenges of Drafting a Constitution’; Regan, ‘Constitution Making in Timor-Leste’.

148 Boege, et al., ‘Hybrid Political Orders’, p. 19.

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154 Pugh, ‘The Political Economy of Peacebuilding’, p. 25.

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159 Richmond, ‘The Romanticisation of the Local’, p. 154.

160 Paris, ‘Peacebuilding and the Limits’, p. 76.

161 See Wallis, Joanne, Gillies, Alexandra, and Akara, Mericio, Fahe Hamutuk: Sharing Oil Wealth Through Cash Transfer in Timor-Leste (New York: Revenue Watch Institute, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

162 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (for the period from 24 September 2009 to 20 January 2010), UN Doc. S/2010/85 (12 February 2010), p. 10.

163 Gusmao, Timor Lives!, p. 54.

164 On the road to Peace and Prosperity: Timor-Leste's Strategic Development Plan 2011–2030 Summary, Office of the prime minister, Dili (7 April 2010).

165 Constitution, section 2(4).

166 Ibid., section 6(g).

167 Interview with a member of parliament, Dili (11 May 2010); interview with a government minister, Dili (27 April 2010); interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (23 April 2010); Brown and Gusmao, ‘Peacebuilding and Political Hybridity’; Butt, Simon, et al. , Looking forward: local dispute resolution mechanisms in Timor-Leste, Legal Studies Research Paper (Sydney: Law School, University of Sydney, 2004)Google Scholar.

168 Jill Jolliffe, ‘Psychological Healing as a Prerequisite to Good Governance in Timor-Leste’, in Mearns, Democratic Governance in Timor-Leste, p. 19.

169 Trindade, ‘Reconciling Conflicting Paradigms’.

170 Interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); interview with an international academic, Brisbane (18 January 2010); Jolliffe, ‘Psychological Healing as a Prerequisite’.

171 Brown and Gusmao, ‘Peacebuilding and Political Hybridity’, p. 67; Palmer, Lisa, ‘Developing Timor-Leste: The Role of Custom and Tradition’, in Palmer, Lisa, et al. (eds), Exploring the Tension of Nation-Building in Timor-Leste (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 2007), pp. 35–40Google Scholar; Grenfell, ‘Promoting the rule of law’.

172 Personal communication from Alfredo Pires, secretary of state for Natural Resources, Dili (29 April 2010).

173 Interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (14 May 2010).

174 Alfredo Pires (9 April 2010).

175 Interview with a Timorese intellectual, Dili (12 May 2010); interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (14 May 2010).

176 Boege et al., On Hybrid Political Orders, p. 4; Boege, et al., ‘Building Peace and Political Community’; Soares, ‘Challenges for the future’.

177 Nixon, ‘The Crisis of Governance’, p. 91.

178 Hohe, ‘The Clash of Paradigms’, p. 569; Lutz and Linder, Traditional Structures; McWilliam, ‘Houses of Resistance in Timor-Leste’.

179 Brown, ‘Security, development and the nation-building agenda’, p. 161.

180 Lutz and Linder, Traditional Structures, pp. 46–7; Turner, Mark, ‘Issues in the Design of Decentralisation’, Local Level Governance in the Pacific, State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper 2003/7 (Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2003)Google Scholar; World Bank, World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People (Washington: World Bank, 2004)Google Scholar.

181 Fleiner, Thomas, et al. , ‘Federalism, Decentralisation and Conflict Management in Multicultural Societies’, in Blindenbacher, Raoul and Koller, Arnold (eds), Federalism in a Changing World – Learning from Each Other (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003)Google Scholar.

182 Penelope Schoeffel, ‘Small is Not Beautiful: Central Government and Service Delivery in the Pacific’, Local Level Governance in the Pacific.

183 Ibid.; Fleiner, et al., ‘Federalism, Decentralisation and Conflict Management’; Lutz and Linder, Traditional Structures.

184 Asia Foundation, Law and Justice in Timor-Leste.

185 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010).

186 Fieldwork observation (June–July 2009; April–May 2010; September–October 2010); interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (23 April 2010).

187 Kingsbury, ‘Political development’, p. 23.

188 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010).

189 Centre, Carter, The Timor-Leste Political and Election Observation Project: Final Report (Atlanta: The Carter Centre, 2004)Google Scholar.

190 Interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (14 May 2010); interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (14 May 2010).

191 Nixon, Rod, ‘Indonesian West Timor: The Political-Economy of Emerging Ethno-Nationalism’, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 34:2 (2004), pp. 163–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a recent iteration of the proposal see Trindade, ‘Reconciling Conflicting Paradigms’.

192 For example, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis, and Futuna and Western Samoa.

193 For example, Namibia, South Africa, Ghana, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia, and Cameroon.

194 Interview with a member of the Constituent Assembly, Canberra (2 February 2010).

195 Interview with a member of parliament, Dili (11 May 2010).

196 Kammen, Douglas, ‘Master-Slave, Traitor-Nationalist, Opportunist-Oppressed: Political Metaphors in East Timor’, Indonesia, 76 (2003), pp. 69–85, 75Google Scholar.

197 Personal communication from an international security advisor, Dili (11 May 2010); personal communications during fieldwork, Timor-Leste (June–July 2009 and April–May 2010). See also Ibid.

198 Grenfell, ‘Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law’, p. 324; Soares, ‘Challenges for the future’.

199 The United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).

200 Interview with an international justice advisor, Dili (14 May 2010).

201 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (23 April 2010).

202 Ibid.; interview with a Timorese governance advisor, Dili (11 May 2010); interview with a Timorese justice advisor, Dili (12 May 2010); Andrew Marriot, ‘Justice in the Community, Justice in the Courts: Bridging Timor-Leste's Legal Divide’, in Mearns (ed.), Democratic Governance in Timor-Leste.

203 Interview with an international justice advisor, Dili (14 May 2010); Grenfell, ‘Governance, Violence and Crises’; Harper, Erica, Re-constructing a legal system in Timor-Leste: challenges to introducing international legal norms and principles into post-conflict states under UN administration, Phd thesis (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 2007)Google Scholar; Mearns, Looking Both Ways.

204 For example, most communities build uma lulik (sacred houses), most elders engage in mamah bua malus (chewing of betel nut), most women manufacture tais (traditional cloth), and most have traditional dancing of tebe-tebe or kore-metan (commemoration after one year of someone's death). Trindade, ‘Reconciling Conflicting Paradigms’, p. 163.

205 For example, in Australia local justice actors are involved in state court decision-making in cases involving indigenous persons and local justice sanctions are taken into account by the state courts. See Marchetti, Elena and Daly, Kathleen, ‘Indigenous Sentencing Courts: Towards a Theoretical and Jurisprudential Model’, Sydney Law Review, 29:3 (2007), pp. 415–44Google Scholar; McAsey, Bridget, ‘A Critical Evaluation of the Koori Court Division of the Victorian Magistrates' Court’, Deakin Law Review, 10:2 (2005), pp. 654–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

206 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010); Hohe and Nixon, Reconciling Justice; Mearns, Looking Both Ways; UNOHCHR/UNMIT, Facing the Future: Periodic Report on Human Rights Developments in Timor-Leste, 1 July 2009–30 June 2010 (Dili: United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNMIT, 2010)Google Scholar.

207 Asia Foundation, Law and Justice in Timor-Leste.

208 Grenfell, ‘Promoting the rule of law’.

209 Grenfell, ‘Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law’.

210 Interview with an international justice advisor, Dili (14 May 2010).

211 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010); Grenfell, ‘Promoting the rule of law’; interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (12 May 2010).

212 Marriot, ‘Justice in the Community’; Mearns, Looking Both Ways.

213 Interview with an international justice advisor, Dili (14 May 2010).

214 Constitution, section 138.

215 Ibid., section 138.

216 Interview with a member of parliament, Dili (13 May 2010); Niner, ‘Martyrs, heroes and warriors’.

217 World Bank, Report of the Joint Assessment Mission to Timor-Leste (8 December 1999), available at: {http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/eap/eap.nsf/0/a67abe6406537dcb85256847007dff36?OpenDocument}.

218 Asian Development Bank, Second Progress Report on Timor-Leste, Donor's Council Meeting, Canberra, Australia (13–15 June 2001), available at: {http://www.adb.org/documents/conference/easttimor/Second_Progress_Report/spret.pdf}.

219 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (23 April 2010).

220 Interview with an international academic, Brisbane (18 January 2010).

221 For example, a suco leader described how he undertakes extensive consultation with his community, and is now able to formally lobby the government to address their concerns. To date these concerns have focused on development, with the leader submitting a plan to the government, to which the government responded with an initial investment in community infrastructure projects. Interview with a suco leader, Dili (28 September 2010).

222 Fraenkel, Jon and Grofman, Bernard, ‘Introduction – Political Culture, Representation and Electoral Systems in the Pacific Islands’, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 43:3 (2005), pp. 261–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

223 Butterworth, David and Dale, Pamela, Articulations of Local Governance in Timor-Leste: Lessons for Development under Decentralization, Justice for the Poor Policy Note 56931 (Dili: World Bank, 2010)Google Scholar.

224 Meitzner Yoder, Laura S., ‘Hybridising Justice: State-Customary Interactions over Forest Crime and Punishment in Oecusse, East Timor’, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 8:1 (2007), pp. 43–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Palmer and do Amaral de Carvalho, ‘Nation Building and Resource Management’.

225 Palmer, ‘Developing Timor-Leste’.

226 Hau'ofa, Epeli, ‘The New South Pacific Society: Integration and Independence’, in Hooper, Anthony, et al. (eds), Class and Culture in the South Pacific (Auckland and Suva: Centre for Pacific Studies of the University of Auckland and Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, 1987), p. 7Google Scholar; interview with a member of the Constituent Assembly, Canberra (2 February 2010).

227 See, for example, Goodhand, Jonathan and Sedra, Mark, Bargains for Peace? Aid, Conditionalities and Reconstruction in Afghanistan (The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations, 2006)Google Scholar; O'Brien, James C., ‘Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Warlords and Reconstruction After Iraq’, UC Davies Journal of International Law & Policy, 11:1 (2004–2005), pp. 99–122Google Scholar.

228 Ibid., p. 141; Trindade, Josh and Castro, Bryant, Rethinking Timorese Identity as a Peacebuilding Strategy: The Lorosa'e-Loromonu Conflict from a Traditional Perspective (Dili: Report prepared for The European Union's Rapid Reaction Mechanism Programme, Technical Assistance to the National Dialogue Process in Timor-Leste, 2007)Google Scholar.

229 Richmond, ‘Becoming Liberal, Unbecoming Liberalism’, p. 334.

230 Brown, ‘Security, development and the nation-building agenda’, p. 155; Trindade and Castro, Rethinking Timorese Identity.

231 Mearns, Looking Both Ways, pp. 30–1.

232 Law Against Domestic Violence No. 7/2010 (2010).

233 Interview with a member of Timorese civil society, Dili (28 April 2010); interview with an international security advisor, Dili (28 April 2010).

234 For example, when negotiating a tarabandu to regulate local social behaviour, one community became aware that their local treatment of rape victims did not reflect the state Penal Code, and changed their agreement accordingly. Interview an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010).

235 Interview with an international justice advisor, Dili (14 May 2010).

236 Interview with an international governance advisor, Dili (13 May 2010); Richmond, ‘Becoming Liberal, Unbecoming Liberalism’, p. 334.