International Organizations, Rule of Law and Development

Dr. Ardit Memeti
Assistant Professor – Kuwait International Law School
Professor David Morgan
Distinguished Professor – Kuwait International Law School and Emeritus Professor of Law at University College Cork – Ireland

Abstract

International organizations including the United Nations (UN), the World Bank (WB) and the European Union (EU) stress the importance of the rule of law as a prerequisite for economic, political and social development. On this basis, these organizations spend a good deal of money and dispose of a lot of influence. However, the rule of law is a much-disputed concept and the causality between rule of law and development is difficult to determine.
Against this background, this paper first provides a discussion for the various definitions of the notion of rule of law from the perspective of international organizations and rule of law practitioners (Part 2).  However, here we have opted to focus mainly, though not exclusively, on the EU, from whose practice each of our case-studies (Part 3 and 4) is drawn. Part 5 offers Concluding Comments as to how the use of the term ‘rule of law’ actually helps (or not) in the field.
Key terms: international organizations, rule of law, development, United Nations, European Union, World Bank, Poland, Kosovo

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