Investigators
Thomas C. Heller - Stanford University

Today, it is widely recognized that the absence of the rule of law constitutes a critical barrier to economic growth and democractic political development. Increasingly, scholars and policy makers alike are turning their attention toward the concept of economic rights - ranging from broad affirmations of the importance of secure property rights to more particular descriptions of modes of corporate governance - to inform their thinking about growth and development. This broader, more encompassing notion of the rule of law, while welcome in most quarters, creates an entirely new set of challenges, particularly at a time when the very concept of "democratic governance" is undergoing rapid change. 

Significant work on the Rule of Law Program has already begun at Stanford, under the auspices of Thomas Heller, Professor of International Legal Studies at the Law School. The effort has been organized around three broad themes: Rule of Law and Economic Governance; Judicial Uncertainty; and Collective Goods and the Social Investment Practices of Corporations.

Within the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, the program is focusing on issues associated with human rights, comparative constitutionalism, judicial reform and oil dependent producer states. The kinds of questions framing faculty research in these areas include the following:

Human Rights

The idea that human rights should transcend national boundaries and cultural differences is a modern concept. Some governments and societies view the spread of the western human rights movement as a threat to their own cultural values and forms of governance. Should the concept of universal human rights override state laws and cultural practices in non-western countries? And if they do, what implications does this have for the sovereignty of that country? Might western intervention in the name of human rights be viewed as cultural imperialism? The complex issue of how to balance the concept of universal human rights with local values and governance lies at the core of the CDDRL's concern for the Rule of Law and the changing perception of sovereignty.

Comparative Constitutionalism

The demise of communism and colonialism has led to an upsurge in attention to constitutional principles as the exemplar of a state's commitment to the Rule of Law. These new constitutions reflect the background traditions of their location, as well as their aspirations to a new constitutional order resting on the separation of powers, guarantees of representative democracy, and the inclusion of social and economic rights. Why do some of these constitutional orders take firm root, while others are cast aside or ignored? What determines success and failure? What role can and should constitution play in contributing to responsible governance?

Judicial Reform

A decade of experience with programs designed to promote judicial reform in democratizing countries underscores the need for such initiatives to be more solidly grounded in empirical research. What is the administrative capacity of judicial institutions in post-colonial, newly democratized, and re-formed states to implement reforms? To what degree and under what conditions are cultural, religious, and national differences barriers to reform?

Oil dependent producer states

Just over a year ago, Professor Thomas Heller, Director of CDDRL's Rule of Law Program, had just launched a new project on oil dependent producer states. The project has now become one of the mainstays of the CDDRL law program.

The project assesses the performance of oil dependent producer states in maximizing economic and social development through the generation and utilization of petroleum revenues. With oil prices moving from one record level to the next the question as to whether and how petro-states manage to turn their wealth in black gold into sustainable development has moved back to the center of debates in academic and policy circles. While a significant body of literature shows that oil states tend to grow slower and to suffer from weaker political institutions than non-oil states few studies have so far analyzed and explained the marked differences we can observe among oil states.

Christine Jojarth, a recent PhD from the London School of Economics came to CDDRL in October 2005 as a post doctoral fellow, but has stayed on at the Center to serve as project manager. Heller and Scheiber devoted the first quarter of the academic year to developing the research strategy and the syllabus of a new interdisciplinary research seminar taught at the Law School on oil and development. Seminar participants, including law, economics and political science graduate students, wrote initial country case studies based on the research template that they had helped to refine in the first half of the term. Encouraged by the success of this seminar Heller and Scheiber selected four of the seminar participants to assist them in the in-depth analysis of eight oil exporting states, covering the Caspian (Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan), Northern Africa (Algeria and Libya), Western Africa (Angola and Nigeria), and Latin America (Venezuela and Mexico). The research team embarked on a first round of field trips during the summer and unearthed a wealth of additional information.

In May 2007, their initial findings were presented and discussed at a two-day conference hosted by CDDRL. Participants of this conference were drawn from academia, the oil industry, NGOs, and foreign governments. The central goal of this conference was to obtain critical feedback on the country case studies conducted by the team and to advance the debate on the proper management of oil revenues. Ultimately, the findings of this research project will be presented in a book that is planned to be submitted by fall 2007.

Contact
Thomas C. Heller