Market Economy, Democracy, or Rule of Law? What Should Be Prioritized to Promote Development?

Challenging Boundaries - Essays in Honor of Roland Bieber, NOMOS, Baden-Baden, 2007

21 Pages Posted: 18 Oct 2013

See all articles by Frank Emmert

Frank Emmert

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

Date Written: January 1, 2007

Abstract

Since WWII, several trillion USD have been given to developing countries in official and other development aid. Yet the vast majority of these countries - at least if we look at the vast majority of the people in these countries - is stuck in abject poverty. Most commonly, we cite the lack of democracy as the principal cause of this problem and, whenever we do interfere in a country, we push first and foremost for reasonably free elections as the cure-all. This "liberal peace building" and the premise of "early elections, privatization, trade liberalization" has failed and continues to fail pretty much without fail. The article argues that we put the cart before the horse in development aid and that Rule of Law needs to be established before anything else. In a subsequent piece, published in the Fordham International Law Journal and also available on my SSRN author page, I continue the analysis by discussing what Rule of Law actually means.

Keywords: Rule of Law, Democracy, Market Economy, Development Aid

JEL Classification: F02, F35, O19, O55

Suggested Citation

Emmert, Frank, Market Economy, Democracy, or Rule of Law? What Should Be Prioritized to Promote Development? (January 1, 2007). Challenging Boundaries - Essays in Honor of Roland Bieber, NOMOS, Baden-Baden, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2341435

Frank Emmert (Contact Author)

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law ( email )

Inlow Hall IN 335
530 West New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
United States

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