Category Archives: Uncategorized

The essays in Democracy and the Rule of Law (Cambridge Studies in the Theory of Democracy) come across as a collection of authors synthesizing books that they’ve written and published elsewhere. Nonetheless, it is a very nice way to sample some of the literature in this field. Some of the essays, particularly the first few, tend a bit too much towards the legal theory and less on the institutional side. I particularly enjoyed Robert Barros’ essays on constitutionalism in Pinochet’s Chile – he provides a fascinating argument for how institutions and law can in fact bind dictators under certain conditions. Now, this book did come out before Tom Ginsburg’s Judicial Review in New Democracies: Constitutional Courts in Asian Cases, and the literature on law and politics has only exploded since then. Still, I’d recommend this book to anybody interested in the field.

A few months ago, I posted a blog entry mourning the arrest and conviction of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobao. Today, the Nobel Committee awarded Liu the Peace Prize for his bravery. I’ll put aside my technical qualms about how the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded – it seems very much a political decision rather than a serious assessment of peacemakers. That said, there are few dissidents who need the world’s support more and for such an important cause. Hopefully, the prize will at least protect Liu and his family from harm, as it seems to have for Aung San Suu Kyi.

UPDATE: There’s been some disappointment that Duch only received a 30-year sentence (reduced to 19 years for time already served). There are some reactions in this Straits Times article. On the one hand, 19 years isn’t a particularly long sentence for genocide. On the other, Duch is already 67 years old and not in great health – it’s not like he’s going to have a long, productive life after being released from prison. We’ll hopefully see more reactions over the next few days…

This looks interesting. Jakarta will be hosting the 7th Asian Constitutional Court Judges Conference this week. The conference is a chance for constitutional court judges to network and share experiences. If I’d known about it earlier, I would love to have tried to attend. As it stands, if anybody is in Jakarta and plans on attending, please let me know!

Rule by Hukum will be on leave for the next two weeks as I leave once more to visit Southeast Asia. First, I’ll be visiting Burma, primarily to visit my adorable niece, but also possibly for an exciting excursion. Then, I’ll be in Malaysia for the 24th Asia Pacific Roundtable. I’ll be pretty busy in both places, but fortunately the 20+ hour flight to Singapore should give me enough time to read some rule of law literature and post reviews on my return.