Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Transgressive political contention can incapacitate state efforts to secure peace and restore order. Increasingly, external non-state actors seek to fill this gap by implementing a variety of rule-of-law programs designed to promote peace and public order in post-conflict settings. At same time, local peoples increasingly call for the use of traditional legal mechanisms to promote peace and justice. It is unclear whether and how such externally provided rule-of-law programs can articulate effectively with local legal traditions to yield peace and justice. We contend that externally implemented rule-of-law programs beneficially introduce normative concerns that would otherwise remain unaddressed. However, we further contend that realization of any such benefit depends upon the extent to which such programs resonate with traditional norms and customs and are designed with sensitivity to the political and cultural context of their implementation. We compare cases of external non-state actor?s programs that promote the rule of law in several African states that have recently experienced conflict episodes (e.g., Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi). To test our contentions, by examining the discourse and circumstances surrounding their formulation and implementation, we assess the linkages between underlying motives and political effectiveness of each rule-of-law promotion program.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Abstract
This paper challenges the seemingly uncompromised dichotomy of rule of law and rule of human in the discussion of liberal democracy. By first unraveling the role of rule of law long isolated and accentuated as the quintessential criteria to maintain the practice and the survival of a democratic institution, we pinpoint the observation that both rule of law or rule of human based institutions might suffer varying degree of deterioration and unfeasibility especially under extraordinary circumstances. A new approach to understand establishment and sustainability of democracy is proposed, in which order and stability shall not singularly depend on rule of law but also in accordance with a virtuous rule of human in which the selected personal leadership shall exhibit two crucial qualities: firstly the ability to generate rule of law based democratic institution in time of transitional period, and secondly the willingness to be submissive to the rule of law institution he or she founded to guarantee the sustainability of the system. Two cases of personal leadership, De Gaulle in France and Chiang Ching-kuo in Republic of China, are under careful scrutiny to portrait how unity of rule of law and rule of human can be ready of benefit for states in transition in terms of further consolidating democracy or transforming from an authoritarian to a democratic regime.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper offers an empirical examination of Speaker Hastert's policy of governing the House by the "majority of the majority." We ask, how often has this actually occured? To answer, we identify seven possible voting coalitions that might win House floor votes. We then examine all simple majority roll calls from the 47th to 109th Congresses, differentiating the set of all simple majority votes and close votes defined as less than a 60-40 split. Our results indicate that the House operates according to the Hastert Rules on only about half of all simple majority votes and about 40% of close votes. The incidence of majority party defeats is much higher than indicated in previous studies that address only final passage votes. The majority of the majority prevails by forming coalitions more than on more than a third of the votes. We examine longetudinal patterns and outlying congresses. We explore the implications.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: I discuss how the PRI in Mexico has reformed the way that it selects candidates for public office. I argue that loopholes in the new rules often allow party elites to avoid using open procedures in favor of closed ones, thus avoiding reform.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines the implications for the rule of law due to demands for legal pluralism from Aboriginal communities from the perspective of a liberalism of fear in contrast to a liberalism which aspires to recognize deep diversity.