Policing Neo-Liberal Reforms: The Rule of Law as an Enabling and Restrictive Discourse

Abstract

This article explores the ways that International Development Agencies (IDAs) have, in general, deployed the twin concepts of “rule of law” and “democracy.” The general argument is that the rule of law discourse by these agencies uses the concept of the rule of law to generate a language of open-ended and participatory politics while simultaneously foreclosing the possibility of multiple and competitive politics. This article argues that, while utilizing the open-ended language of the rule of law, the prevailing rule of law discourse by IDAs sells and entrenches particular policies and political projects that are dissolved into the idea of rule of law.