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Just as the international community was late in discovering the significance of the judiciary for the success of peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina, international agencies were also late in identifying corruption as a key reason why the Bosnian judicial agencies were not working. The steps taken eventually to address the situation, including introducing reformed judicial admission, discipline and dismissal regimes, were not strategic, but reactive in nature. Notably, the international community initially adhered to the idea that these reforms should be domestically 'owned' and 'led', and that the resulting laws should resonate well with pre-existing legal-cultural paradigms; but as this process did not produce the desired results, the Office of the High Representative and the Independent Judicial Commission chose gradually to increase their involvement, eventually assuming almost complete control over the process. The process culminated in the firing of almost the entire Bosnian judiciary and the imposition of an internationalized structure for judicial appointments and dismissals. Although this policy stood in stark contrast to the values of local ownership and local leadership, it has essentially produced positive long-term results.

This volume collects the proceedings of the Symposium on Asian Constitutionalism in Transition. A comparative perspective, held on December 14 and 15, 2007 in Siena.Since the 1990s, many processes of democratization have taken place in various parts of the world. However, while those in Eastern Europe and Africa have been thoroughly analyzed, less attention has been paid to those involving Asian Countries.This is even more true in Italy, where Asian law has been almost exclusively addresses by Private and Commercial law scholars. Instead, Constitutional law plays a fundamental role in shaping the legal culture and the system of the government and represents the precondition to master more specific fields of law.This volume would like to fill the gap, by drawing the attention on the constitutional developments and changes which have recently involved Eastern Asia Countries.The volume is divided into three parts: Methodological problems; Democratic transitions and the rule of law; Economic transitions between market and rights.

Corruption has been recognized as a key challenge to post-conflict peacebuilding efforts, undermining the legitimacy and effectiveness of state institutions, and compromising key peacebuilding tasks such as disarmament and reconstruction. However, in the short run, accepting corruption might be necessary to finding a political settlement and stabilizing a post-conflict order. Our review of the debate suggests that corruption in these contexts is first and foremost a political problem and needs to be addressed as such. Anti-corruption measures, such as promoting accountability and the rule of law, need to be considered in the context of wider peacebuilding objectives.

As a result of a recognition that many of the atrocities of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina stemmed from poor respect for fundamental democratic and human rights principles, the Dayton Peace Accords (DPA) came to emphasize that the new BiH should be a democratic state operating under the rule of law and that the state and entity governments should ensure the highest level of internationally recognized human rights standards and fundamental freedoms. It was also clear to the international community that the judicial authorities of BiH would not be able to transform this language into reality when the nationalist political parties resisted any such development. Annex 10 of the DPA therefore gave the Office of the High Representative, the international body responsible for the implementation of the DPA and the highest authority `in theatre', a far-reaching mandate, sometimes referred to as `protectorate-style powers', to decide, interpret and implement policies as it sees appropriate and to substitute itself for local authorities when they fail to promote the goals and principles spelled out in the DPA. In order to promote judicial reform and safeguard vital rule of law interests, the High Representative may consequently impose decisions and laws and remove obstructionist officials. This article describes how these powers are exercised and how the broader effort of judicial reform, involving a wide range of national and international actors, is organized in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Decades after the rise and fall of the Law and Development movement, crude theories about the relationship of law to economic development have reappeared in the wake of "transition". Having observed the process of creating laws governing ownership and contracts in Vietnam, the author of this thesis seeks to determine whether the perceived problems exist in reality and whether the "standard legal prescription" for solving them actually works. The official aspect of the legal reforms, i.a. goals and drafting, has been discussed with legislators, officials and other informed people. The response of those meant to benefit from the laws, the actors in the marketplace, has been explored in interviews with businessmen in and around Hanoi.

Vietnam's reliance on foreign legal models is pardy a consequence of the absence of effective means for developing viable organic solutions and partly of a reluctant recognition that overseas trade and intercourse necessitate international compatibility. A favoured technique is to single out individual elements of foreign laws that are considered acceptable and appropriate, while rejecting others. Thus, while much of the new legislation appears to be fairly "modern" and "conventional", certain underlying fundamentals have been rejected for fear that they should be carriers of "dangerous" ideas and practices. Most businessmen nevertheless feel safe in the sense that they are not afraid of expropriation or other immediate threats to their existence. The objective factors of law are intertwined with political "moods" and other subjective factors, and those who believe in their ability to correctly interpret these subtle signals have confidence in the future. That many successful businessmen still rely on kinship ties and moral concepts for day-for-day transactions is another reason to doubt the urgency of the need for "Western-style" laws. However, in this case, changes in the expanding marketplace, e.g. more diverse moral concepts, in the wake of expanding trade, alter the relative costs of formality and informality and promote the new Civil Code and Commercial Law as providers of model terms for impersonal transactions.

That Vietnamese businessmen consider these laws basically good, but at the same time describe the legal system as a whole as "unattractive", indicates a need for judicial reform incorporating traditional concepts of rule of law. The leadership however is ambivalent. It regards the presence of discretion and corruption as a threat to its authority and appreciates that uniformity is important for state-building purposes, but is not willing to compromise with the Party's leading role in society. The resulting policy, a refined version of "socialist legality" or rule by law, meaning that state organs are bound by legislation and that citizens are assured that their economic rights will be upheld as long as they follow the rules, is inherently untenable and incapable of providing the kind of protection associated with conventional rule of law.

Legal and judicial reform, or “rule of law promotion”, is – and is likely to remain – a priority for international organizations, aid agencies and national governments. The elasticity of the rule of law concept allows it to invoke in support of conflict prevention and peace-building, political transition and human rights, and promoting economic development. Operationally, rule of law project design and programming seem to be converging worldwide. Yet, as rule of law promotion expands its geographic reach to new conflict zones and to Asia, diversity in local political, economic and social environments becomes more obvious. This volume explores what happens when global rule of law promotion confronts local realities, and with what results. We present a fresh collection of essays from new and established scholars in Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan. The contributors explore local case studies ranging from Aceh, Cambodia and East Timor through Vietnam and the PRC, as well as studies of international rule of law promoters including the EU, the World Bank and the UN Security Council. The contributions highlight the increased complexity of the field; the proliferation of local and non-state actors involved in rule of law promotion; and the need for more accountability and good governance by international actors themselves.

As the post-2015 Development Agenda is set to replace the Millennium Development Goals (“MDGs”), one of the most controversial new elements of the new agenda is the rule of law. While all of the official fora for discussing and producing recommendations have concluded that the rule of law (or some variation) should be included, there are still significant challenges to its incorporation in the final Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”). The interrelated points of contention have included whether rule of law applies at the national government level, whether it encompasses domestic governance, and how the concept should be defined and measured. Going forward, there are a few key factors influencing whether and how the rule of law will be incorporated into the next round of development goals: 1) the compelling force of traditional views on development in determining member states’ positions in the debate; 2) the continued importance of the United Nations General Assembly (“UNGA”) Rule of Law Declaration; 3) the centrality of the General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (“OWG”); and 4) the ease of measurement and implementation of proposed indicators. If incorporated into the new agenda, a rule of law goal will likely include indicators that are easily evaluated and generate little political friction, such as legal identity.

This article demonstrates that in many peace-building environments, public administration reform and justice sector reform are promoted as separate projects and underpinned by different paradigms, namely making the administration more effective and efficient while introducing and strengthening rule of law and human rights principles in the justice sector. The reasons for this division include lack of knowledge among international and national policy-makers concerning the relevance of the rule of law for public administration reform, vague and conflicting peace-building mandates and objectives, and differences in topical orientation and ‘culture’ among the international actors concerned. The resulting rule of law deficit in public administration reform has adverse effects on both states and individuals, not least for the protection of fundamental human rights. This deficit is also symptomatic of an even deeper dilemma: the distinction between ends and means in post-conflict efforts.

In order to more closely integrate rule of law dimensions in public administration reform, the article suggests an inventory of possible approaches, and relates these to current and future challenges and needs. The inventory comprises developing concepts of rule of law in public administration, promoting transformation of international rule of law principles to national law, facilitating institutional reforms to ensure the presence of institutions willing and able to adhere to the rule of law; the development of manuals, handbooks and other ‘aids’ for law-makers and administrators; developing tools for monitoring the ‘qualitative’ dimensions of public administration; transparency enhancement to enable individuals to enforce their rights; and improving inter-agency/sector co-operation in order to promote coordination and integrated approaches.

This article examines rule of law (ROL) and security sector reform (SSR) linkages in crisis management. In particular, the article looks into why international assistance providers chose to categorize a situation and ensuing response strategy as rule of law or SSR, how this categorization is motivated and explained to international and national partners and stakeholders, and how this categorization affects national laws, institutions and other arrangements in post-conflict and crisis societies. The article is borne out of an observation, based on events in the Arab Spring, that the character of international community responses to rule of law threats and challenges has as a strong focus on security. Rule of law promotion taking place in UN and EU missions has undergone a ‘securitization’ in how reforms are conceived and put into practice, compared with rule of law in development aid and past experiences of rule of law assistance in post-communist transitions.

This article examines rule of law (ROL) and security sector reform (SSR) linkages in crisis management. In particular, the article looks into why international assistance providers chose to categorize a situation and ensuing response strategy as rule of law or SSR, how this categorization is motivated and explained to international and national partners and stakeholders, and how this categorization affects national laws, institutions and other arrangements in post-conflict and crisis societies. The article is borne out of an observation, based on events in the Arab Spring, that the character of international community responses to rule of law threats and challenges has as a strong focus on security. Rule of law promotion taking place in UN and EU missions has undergone a ‘securitization’ in how reforms are conceived and put into practice, compared with rule of law in development aid and past experiences of rule of law assistance in post-communist transitions.

Vid kriser som Estoniakatastrofen, tsunamin eller skogsbranden i Västmanland måste myndigheter kunna agera snabbt och effektivt tillsammans. Men detta måste ske utan att lagar överträds och utan att principerna för rättsstaten bryts, något som kan vara utmanande. Dessutom bygger vår krisberedskap i stort på principer och målsättningar som saknar ett bestämt juridiskt innehåll, till exempel ansvars- och närhetsprincipen, och på förhoppningar om att myndigheter och andra offentliga och privata aktörer övat samverkan och förmår komma överens.I denna bok utreds de rättsliga förutsättningarna för krishantering. Därtill ställs frågan hur detta sätt att reglera och styra agerandet i krissituationer faktiskt upplevs av de aktörer som är berörda. Förstår de vad som förväntas, tycker de att detta är genomförbart och uppfattar de var de rättsliga gränserna går?I boken diskuteras också om denna regleringsform gett upphov till oväntade gränsdragningsproblem och principiella konflikter i styrningen, och hur dessa i så fall förhåller sig till etablerade rättsstatliga principer om bland annat klarhet, koherens, rimlighet och kongruens.