Colonial difference under UN supervision? Racialized status hierarchies and the reconfiguration of empire in the UN Trusteeship System

Abstract This article examines how racialized hierarchies were preserved within the United Nations (UN) Trusteeship System (TS), contributing to International Relations scholarship on hierarchy, status, and international organizations. Building on research demonstrating the UN’s entanglement with imperial interests from its inception, it focuses on the mid-twentieth century as a moment when empire was increasingly framed as temporally finite. The article argues that the Trusteeship Council did not constitute a rupture with colonial governance but instead functioned as a site through which colonial rule was reorganized and sustained under conditions of anticipated, yet uncertain, decolonization. Although the TS was articulated in the language of international responsibility, gradual self-government, and participation, colonial status differences continued to structure political influence. Drawing on multi-sited archival research, the article shows how colonial difference remained embedded in practices of supervision and representation. Theoretically, it complements status-oriented approaches by foregrounding the racialized dimensions of hierarchical orders embedded in international organizations, using status in colonial difference as an analytical lens. In doing so, it contributes to debates on racialized status hierarchies, the constrained agency of Global South actors, and the transformation of empire in multilateral governance.