Rotten to the Core: Project Capture and the Failure of Judicial Reform in Mongolia

East Asia Law Review, Vol. 4, p. 209, 2009

Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No 09-24

68 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2009 Last revised: 19 Nov 2009

See all articles by Brent T. White

Brent T. White

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law

Date Written: November 17, 2009

Abstract

Despite claims by international donor agencies that judicial reform efforts in Mongolia have been a great success, this article argues that Mongolian courts continue to grossly lack integrity, transparency, and accountability – and are perceived by the Mongolian public as more corrupt today than when donor-funded judicial reform efforts began almost a decade ago. This article further argues that the failure of judicial reform in Mongolia stems in significant part from the "capture" of donor-funded judicial reform efforts by elites within the Mongolian judicial sector. It concludes that the inherent tendency for project capture in the "institution-building" approach to judicial reform that international donor agencies favor should add to calls to limit the approach in favor of bottom-up efforts to push for meaningful judicial reform.

Keywords: Law and Development, Judicial reform, corruption, Mongolia, rule of law

JEL Classification: K1, K19, K33, K40

Suggested Citation

White, Brent T., Rotten to the Core: Project Capture and the Failure of Judicial Reform in Mongolia (November 17, 2009). East Asia Law Review, Vol. 4, p. 209, 2009, Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No 09-24, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1424184

Brent T. White (Contact Author)

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 210176
Tucson, AZ 85721-0176
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
424
Abstract Views
2,593
Rank
126,497
PlumX Metrics