Abstract

Focussing on the relationship between legal colonisation and legal globalisation in the context of post-conflict peacebuilding and reconstruction, I argue that promotion of the rule of law as social domination over local economies, politics and societies has been, historically, core to international efforts. Legal and judicial reforms, which are designed to restore and strengthen the post-conflict state, not only serve to obfuscate historical conditions associated with settler-colonial rule but also reconstitute the relationship between dominant domestic actors and global capital. Moreover, whereas rule-of-law promotion has increasingly been professionalised and standardised, the underlying objectives to promote neoliberal economic growth, subordinate indigenous legal systems, and advancing ruling interests remain the enduring legacies of legal colonialism. In making this argument, I interrogate the underlying ideological and political drivers of the UK-supported justice sector development in Sierra Leone and the US-funded rule-of-law programmes in Liberia.

摘要

着眼于冲突后建设和平和重建背景下的合法殖民化与合法全球化之间的关系，我认为，促进法治作为对当地经济、政治和社会的社会统治，在历史上一直是国际努力的核心。旨在恢复和加强冲突后国家的法律和司法改革不仅有助于混淆与定居者-殖民统治相关的历史条件，而且还重建了国内主导行为体与全球资本之间的关系。此外，虽然法治的促进越来越专业化和标准化，但促进新自由主义经济增长的基本目标，附属的土著法律制度，推进统治利益仍然是法律殖民主义的持久遗产。在提出这个论点时，我询问了英国支持的塞拉利昂司法部门发展和美国资助的利比里亚法治计划的潜在意识形态和政治驱动因素。