Key findings: There is a lack of systematic evidence on whether and how the ‘rule of law’ can be established through domestic or international interventions. There is also limited literature on the relationship between domestic change processes and rule of law interventions.
Some experts consulted for this helpdesk report referred to the evaluations and assessments of the decades of extensive international experience with rule of law interventions. However there are limitations to this evidence, such as insufficient focus on outcomes rather than outputs.
This study reviews a selection of evaluations of international interventions and identifies the following key findings.
- Many evaluations on different types of rule of law reform programmes have found disappointing, limited or no impact on the establishment of rule of law by international interventions across donors, countries and sectors. Some evaluations have also found positive examples of successful interventions.
- The same issues with the design and implementation of international rule of law interventions are reported across donors, countries and sectors. A common criticism is that rule of law reform does not take into account the importance of domestic political commitment to support the reforms.
- Some innovative interventions and tools are identified as successful (at least in process and output terms).
- A number of evaluations point out that short-term interventions are unlikely to lead to sustainable establishment of rule of law.
- Some also point out that investment in the monitoring and evaluation of results is needed.
