Posts By Erik Jensen
Rule of Law and Peace-Building: A Modest Proposal
June 25, 2010
In the larger debate about the relationship of development assistance to security, the gap between normative assertions and empirical evidence yawns. Since the 1990s, the concept of “rule of law” has been enthusiastically embraced by international development actors and touted as the key to consolidating peace in post-conflict societies. Rhetorical overuse of the term has [...]
Topics: Conflict and Fragile Conditions | Governance | Law | Legal Aid
Countries: Afghanistan | Pakistan
Developing Rule of Law
October 29, 2008
From 1985 to 1989 I was a Senior Fulbright Scholar and a law consultant to The Asia Foundation’s office in Colombo, Sri Lanka. During that time, I also taught in Sri Lanka’s law schools. Last December, I was back in Sri Lanka and learned that a book I wrote during my days there, An Introduction [...]
Topics: Law
Countries: Afghanistan | Sri Lanka | Timor-Leste
In Pakistan: “Necessity” is the Mother of Constitutional Continuity. Is it also the Mother of Judicial Tenure?
May 2, 2007
About a decade ago, following the installation of the last caretaker regime of the “democratic era” in Pakistan, I suggested to a prominent Pakistani politician that the doctrine of necessity was one of Pakistan’s core jurisprudential principles. To this he replied, “yes, too much necessity and not enough doctrine.” Indeed, the Supreme Court has thrice [...]