The International Rule of Law Movement: A Crisis of Legitimacy and the Way Forward.

Dutton, Yvonne M.

The International Rule of Law Movement: A Crisis of Legitimacy and the Way Forward. Edited by David Marshall. Cambridge: Human Rights Program Series, Harvard Law School, 2014.

Is exporting the Western rule of law model the best way to help rebuild fragile or postconflict states? Perhaps not, suggests David Marshall, the editor of this volume of essays written by experts in the rule of law field (pp. xiii-xiv). He reports that huge sums of money and effort have gone into reengineering laws and reforming justice systems so that they resemble those of Western democracies. The hoped-for result was that the reforms would lead to less poverty, more secure human rights, and a conflict-free future for the people in those states. More often than not, the lofty goals of rule of law reform efforts have not been achieved. One can readily recall the "state-building failures--such as in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, and South Sudan" (p. xiii). Nevertheless, the Western rule of law model persists in promoting a one-size-fits-all solution.

Why is the present model producing unsatisfactory results? Is there a better way to aid fractured states in rebuilding? What challenges do external actors face when they seek to help a state rebuild? These are among the questions that the authors of the chapters in this volume admirably tackle. While each contribution is unique in its arguments and evidence, a theme resonates: those engaging in rule of law reform should consider the country's political and social context. In the case of South Sudan, Mareike Schomerus cautions that rule of law programmers must accept that the country contains a "unique society with mutable and negotiable behavioral moral boundaries," as opposed to simply being another country with laws that need more precise codification (p. 177). In their chapter, Margaux Hall, Nicholas Menzies, and Michael Woolcock argue for a more experimentalist approach toward justice reform that recognizes that "different (known or unknown) forms may be optimal in a particular space" (p. 244). Louis-Alexandre Berg, Deborah Isser, and Doug Porter stress the need to move away from a "fixation with filling organizational deficits that have been defined in relation to international standards" (p. 266) toward a model that recognizes "contextual realities" (p. 267).

This volume is rich with insights from experts in the rule of law field and is a must-read for anyone with an interest in ensuring that future endeavors to help rebuild failed states have their best chance of producing successful outcomes. Reviewed by Yvonne M. Dutton