Paper short abstract:

The Kosovo Property Agency, as a mass claims mechanism, had to strike a difficult balance between producing quantifiable outputs and abiding to the requirements of due process. This paper unpacks the tensions and limitations such an understanding of rendering justice produced in the everyday.

Paper long abstract:

How to measure the efficiency of a (quasi)-judicial process in rendering justice? This paper looks at the work of the Kosovo Property Agency (KPA), the UN-mandated administrative, mass claims mechanism put in place to adjudicate war-related property claims in post-war Kosovo. As an independent mass claims mechanism, the KPA depended on international donors for its operating budget. To secure donations, comply with donor monitoring and evaluation criteria, and wrap up its mandate in time, the KPA adopted a number of managerial techniques to streamline the legal process. This produced tensions between development-minded benchmarks, i.e., producing measurable outputs such as the number of decisions processed, and the demands of due process. It also had wide repercussions on the kind of 'justice' the agency could deliver.