Introductory Remarks by Frauke Lachenmann and Astrid Wiik

In: Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting, Band 112, S. 253-255

Abstract

The theme of the 2018 ASIL Annual Meeting was "International Law in
Practice," and nowhere does international law become more practical than in
the attempt to rebuild and/or stabilize fragile and post-conflict states
through the means of law. Over the last two decades, the rule of law has
become a veritable panacea for the international community. As the World
Justice Project claimed in 2014, "[w]here the rule of law is weak, medicines
fail to reach health facilities, criminal violence goes unchecked, laws are
applied unequally across societies, and foreign investments are held back."
The rule of law is no longer just a political ideal of checking power, it is
also increasingly "a transnational industry worth multiple billions of
dollars." Multiple state donors, international organizations and
nongovernmental organizations are involved in the business of building the
rule of law.