THE RULE OF LAW REVIVAL

One cannot seem to get through a foreign policy debate these days with out someone proposing the rule of law as a solution to one problem or another. The rule of law is undeniably important to peaceful, free, an d prosperous societies, but it is no quick fix. Imparting the rule of law to a society with no history of it involves changing the attitudes of masses and elites and creating a political culture in which nobody is above the law. Unfortunately, proponents of rule-of-law reform ten d to have simpler, less lasting things in mind, like writing legal cod es and sprucing up courts.