Rule of law book edited by Thomas Carothers
Here is an interesting new review of a book that has been out for a bit, edited by Thomas Carothers, on the “Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: In Search of Knowledge” which, as reviewer Simon Stacey notes, is not shy about taking a critical look at the theory and practice of ROL programs. Thomas Carothers has been a leader in the rule of law field for quite some time and foresaw many of the problems before they were widely known. The essays are by other leaders in the field, so this should definitely be worth a read.
It is especially important to get this “right”, or do it as best as one can, as ROL programs proliferate and get mixed into larger geopolitical agendas. It is also worth asking the larger questions of why ROL programs are proliferating and who they serve, not simply whether they are “effective” or just not doing it right. In any event, some fun holiday reading.
Scott N. Carlson
December 22, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
There is much to be said in favor of this work of Tom Carothers. I regularly assign reading materials from his works in my class on legal and judicial reform that I teach in law school. At the same time, I think it is important to keep in mind that a significant portion of the debate and discussion that is included in his works to date, such as the abovementioned one, do not fully reflect the latest developments from the frontlines of democracy promotion. In fairness to Mr. Carothers, the “problem of knowledge” is real, and it is only gradually beginning to be addressed. The reasons for this are complicated, but in my dozen plus years working in the field, I would say a chief problem in assembling the “knowledge” has been that those practitioners in the field–and by practitioners I mean people designing, managing, and living the the frontline experience–are not having their experiences, observations, and lessons-learned catalogued and organized systematically with sufficient rigor. Most of us practitioners working in the field have had the experience of attending conferences that are supposed to be capturing this type of information only to find senior lawyers, professors, and pundits, who have little or no actual hands-on experience with democracy promotion, dominating the stage. To address the “problem of knowledge,” organizations, like Mr. Carother’s, need to be careful when bringing people to the table to ensure that they dig deeper. Fortunately, the trend in this regard is quite promising. USIP, UN agencies, Stimson Center, PILPG, et. al. are really beginning to move aggressively in this direction. More and more often, meetings and conferences are including representatives from the frontlines, and as a result, their is a growing body of literature that reflects a more nuanced, detailed, and practically useful collection of lessons, pitfalls, and opportunities. For those interested in a good representation of this type of publication, I would highly recommend “Can Might Make Rights?” http://books.google.com/books?id=dPKoNG7Oa90C&dq=can+might+make+rights&pg=PP1&ots=HYoWMCdTs-&sig=lmPneZLiZ0VsCcN62BqLGluh2hA&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=can+might+make+rights&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail
I believe this text is a great example of new generation of literature on the topic, and it is my primary text for my course. I look forward to Mr. Carother’s next book, which I hope and expect will build upon this new body of work.