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. 308 pp. $21.95 paperback.

Abstract

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. 308 pp. $21.95 paperback.Belief in the of law-and its capacity to achieve social transformation in virtually any context-has emerged as an article of faith in academic and policy circles. But while the already well-entrenched literature on the boons of the of are ever-proliferating and policy initiatives implementing it are ever-enthusiastic, critical examinations of the empirical being achieved by the many of programs world-over have been few and far between. Indeed, there has been little acknowledgement of failure-and even less deep analysis of the reasons behind the disappointing results. In rising to this challenge, International Rule of Law Movement: A Crisis of Legitimacy and the Way Forward-edited by David Marshall-is a vitally important intervention in a literature that has largely lost touch with reality.The stance of the book-a collection of nine essays by a range of stakeholders in the international of movement, mostly (and not trivially) with some first-hand experience in the field-is not in opposition to the of law, but rather a call to rethink it (p. 7) especially in the light of the enormous investment in such initiatives globally in the wake of reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. It is particularly gratifying to see representatives of international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank- often behind the curve in incorporating critical perspectives-participate in, and lead, this project. Indeed, Marshall argues that, contrary to an emergent academic literature advocating more modest interventions, the rule of industry remains focused on whole system approaches (p. xiv): The causes of the movement's failure have remained constant-unrealistic objectives, misplaced doctrinal approaches, insufficient expertise, poor planning and execution, and a lack of deep contextual knowledge. lessons learned suggest a need to calibrate goals and objectives so that they take account of the negligible impact that international of assistance has had to date (p. xiv).Given the widespread failure of of reform efforts, the volume asks if the response should be to do away with the initiatives or attempt to improve it, interrogates the role of international organizations in the movement and, in a rare move in the international domain, queries the relative roles of state and informal institutions in the process (p. xiv). Finally, it is significant that it stresses that the rule of law is work in progress everywhere-and is in need of fixing even at home (p. xiv).The individual chapters cover a variety of themes, ranging from the abstract to the applied. James Goldston argues that the rhetorical popularity of the of may be linked to the fact that it is moreor-less content free-and calls for an account of it that is not just formalistic, but incorporates the experiences of ordinary people (p. 1). Deval Desai grapples with the seemingly paradoxical situation that spending on of reform is increasing even as it goes into deeper crisis about its identity (with this crisis increasingly substituting for the identity)-and argues that the search for conceptual content should be abandoned in favor of learning from practice. Marshall focuses specifically on the United Nations, calling for it to re-examine its purpose, approach, methodology, and results (p. 84)-and making the case that broad, complex, and unrealistic goals have led the organization to lose its way, as evidenced by its very limited success on the ground, in cases ranging from South Sudan to Haiti. Many of these results, he argues, are the product of insufficient reflection on the part of the United Nations-and that the chances of success of more locally engaged, smaller scale intervention are much greater. …