Publication

This brief argues that a critical problem faced by those who promote the rule of law is the belief that international security actors must establish functioning legal frameworks as quickly as possible in post-conflict situations. According to the brief's authors, however, this questionable assumption overlooks three truth: 1) local actors build peace, not international ones, and it may take time to find such 'homegrown' players; 2) establishing stability should take precedence over all other measures following a conflict; and 3) external actors need to be realistic -- i.e., they must focus on what can actually be achieved with existing human and technical capacities over an extended period of time.