Global Perspectives on the Rule of Law is a collection of original research on the rule of law from a panel of leading economists, political scientists, legal scholars, sociologists and historians. The chapters critically analyze the meaning and foundations of the rule of law and its relationship to economic and democratic development, challenging many of the underlying assumptions guiding the burgeoning field of rule of law development. The combination of jurisprudential, quantitative, historical/comparative, and theoretical analyses seeks to chart a new course in scholarship on the rule of law: the volume as a whole takes seriously the role of law in pursuing global justice, while confronting the complexity of instituting the rule of law and delivering its promised benefits.Written for scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers, Global Perspectives on the Rule of Law offers a unique combination of jurisprudential and empirical research that will be provocative and relevant to those who are attempting to understand and advance the rule of law globally. The chapters progress from broad questions regarding current rule of development efforts and the concept of rule of law to more specific issues pertaining to economic and democratic development. Specific countries, such as China, India, and seventeenth century England and the Netherlands, serve as case studies in some chapters, while broad global surveys feature in other chapters. Indeed, this impressive scope of research ushers in the next generation of scholarship in this area.

Global Perspectives on the Rule of Law: A Preface and an Introduction, Robert L. Nelson and Lee Cabatingan PART I: Assessing Rule of Law Development 1. Rule of Law Temptations, Thomas Carothers 2. Why Developing Countries Prove So Resistant to the Rule of Law, Barry R. Weingast PART II: Global Justice and the World Community 3. Global Justice, Amartya Sen 4. The Rule of Law in Islamic Thought and Practice: A Historical Perspective, Timur Kuran PART III: Rule of Law and Economic Development 5. The Viability of the Welfare State, James J. Heckman 6. Comparing Legal and Alternative Institutions in Finance and Commerce, Franklin Allen and Jun "QJ" Qian 7.Law, Finance, and the First Corporations, Ron Harris PART IV: Rule of Law and Political Development 8. The Politics of Courts in Democratization, Thomas Ginsburg 9. Principled Principals in the Founding Moments of the Rule of Law, Margaret Levi and Brad Epperly 10. The Fight for Basic Legal Freedoms: Mobilization by the Legal Complex, Terence C. Halliday 11. Social Norms, Rule of Law, and Gender Reality: An Essay on the Limits of the Dominant Rule of Law Paradigm, Katharina Pistor, Antara Haldar, and Amrit Amirapu 12. Constitutionalism and the Challenge of Ethnic Diversity, Yash Ghai