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This Australian Research Council-funded research project aims to analyse the theory and practice of building the structures for democracy and justice after conflict. It is interested in work done by international institutions and also attempts at state-building outside international institutions.
A major strand in this project is the potential contribution of international law to the democracy-building enterprise. The project will consider the application of regulatory theory to this area, and also devise practical strategies to assist democracy-building.
The aims of the project are to:
- Identify and analyse the elements of the current international legal framework regulating governance and the protection of human rights in post-conflict states
- Assess the effect of attempts to promote democracy and human rights in a series of case studies
- Develop new theoretical models for understanding the impact of international law after conflict
- Elaborate proposals for strengthening the international legal basis of democratic governance and human rights structures.
Many issues remain contested in this area of international law. For example, can an international definition of democratic governance be devised? Should there be a ‘two track’ conception of governance: a minimalist one for unstable states and a substantive one for more secure societies? Can democracy be imposed in an undemocratic way? Is transitional justice a matter of international or purely local concern? Are international legal norms likely to be of value in societies dealing with the aftermath of conflict?
Another innovation of this project is its attention to questions of sex and gender in the definition and treatment of ‘outsider’ states in international law and the lives of their inhabitants.
Initial findings of the project can be accessed here.
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