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6 - The Challenge of Justice System Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Jane Stromseth
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
David Wippman
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Rosa Brooks
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

As we argued in earlier chapters, building the rule of law requires not only basic security and functioning institutions but also a strong degree of public support and confidence. People need to know that they can resolve disputes without resorting to violence, that the law will protect them from abusive government officials and predatory nonstate actors alike, and that their fundamental rights will be secure. But for people to have good reason for confidence in the rule of law as a cultural matter, we also emphasized the need for laws and law-making processes that enjoy legitimacy, for legal institutions that function fairly, and for a government that is prepared to be bound by law. Strengthening the rule of law, in short, is both a practical project of institution-building and a cultural project of shaping attitudes and commitments.

This chapter examines one piece of this mosaic: building fair, effective justice systems in the wake of military interventions. Beyond the immediate task of establishing security, longer-term efforts to strengthen a country's justice system – including its courts, police, and prisons – are a vital part of building the rule of law after intervention. In countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Iraq, East Timor, Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti, and Sierra Leone, among others, interveners have worked with local leaders to recruit and train police, appoint and train judges, build and furnish courthouses, and improve often deplorable prison conditions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Can Might Make Rights?
Building the Rule of Law after Military Interventions
, pp. 178 - 248
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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