Institutional reforms in contemporaryCambodia are being undertaken in an environmentcharacterized by pervasive legal pluralism the not uncommonsituation in which numerous, contradictory and competingsets of rules and norms regulate social, economic andpolitical relationships. The international developmentcommunity has a long and unhappy history of engagement withsuch environments. This is not simply because the linksbetween substantive policy and institutional arrangements inthe 'transition to democracy' are many, uncertainand highly contingent. It is also the case because theformal precepts of liberal democracy as codified in new lawsand regulations are often inconsistent with prevailingsocial norms and administrative practices. In fact, they maybe fundamentally at odds with the interests of economic andpolitical elites who have an interest in contesting,neutralizing or capturing institutions created under the newlegal framework.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
