Investment in judicial reform activities in developing countries has increased dramatically in the post-Cold War "rule of law" era. Many of these investments have supported judicial infrastructure activities without questioning assumptions that underlie such activities.
This course critically assesses international experience and empirical data regarding judicial reform and other legal assistance in the developing and transition countries. Development theory broadly conceived has come to focus on institutions, including legal institutions, as the necessary foundation for economic growth and democratization. It has become almost a mantra of the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development, the IMF, academic development specialists and others to insist on giving priority to institutional reform or risk the ineffectiveness of policy programs. Yet, many international development actors proceed without seriously examining or analyzing the extensive experience of recent decades in trying to perform the complex set of tasks needed to implement reforms. This course reviews case studies of such reform efforts; draws on relevant literature in political science, economics, comparative law, and related disciplines; analyzes the reform strategies of selected development agencies; and explores alternative modes of analysis that may lead to more effective strategies than many legal assistance programs have enjoyed to date. This course bridges theory and practice as it probes the political economy of reform of legal institutions in developing countries.