BOOK: Can Might Make Rights? Building the Rule of Law after Military Interventions, By Jane Stromseth et al., Cambridge University Press, September 2006.An amazing treatise of an argument that masquerades as a book introduction/sales job. So well written I must buy this book.
If this argument doesn't fit the notion that idealism is just impatient realism, then I don't know what does. The authors see long-term inevitabilities and strive to deal with them pro-actively, instead of sitting back and letting history come to them at its own pace--the essence of realism.
Whether you're interested in buying the book, read this interesting (and brutally honest in its depiction of how the book was shaped by recent events) book description.
Thanks to Lexington Green for sending this in.
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Comments (1)
While I strongly support Stromseth's broad concept of establishing the rule of law as the fundamental objective of our recent interventions, I disagree with the scope she outlines. In any complex endevour (anything from building a house to writing a software application) the most successful strategies involve establishing the fundamentals first, and then incrementally building towards the complete vision. In her definition, the rule of law includes "fostering effective, inclusive, and transparent indigenous governance structures; creating fair and independent judicial systems and responsible security forces; reforming and updating legal codes; and creating a widely shared public commitment to human rights and to using the new or reformed civic structures rather than relying on violence or self-help to resolve problems". In my view, the FIRST objective in establishing the rule of law, is to obtain national agreement on which set of laws will rule, and to consistently enforce them. Establishing the flow of commerce (information and money) simply requires that the rules be known and documented, and that they be predictably applied. So, while I can accept that "governance structures", "judicial systems" and "security forces" are essential underpinnings, I see quagmire when we include in the same breath "gaining broad committment to human rights". This is what has lead to the simplistic statement that we must "establish democracy". It breaks my heart that human rights are not guaranteed and valued universally, but the reality is that what constitutes "human rights" is a set of complex and deeply held cultural norms. We cannot effectively implement BOTH the rule of basic local culturally viable law AND the retooling of the value system of an entire people. We must put first things first - stability and predictability first, and THEN transparency, respect, inclusion, etc.
Posted by srapp | November 28, 2006 7:58 AM