Microfoundations of the Rule of Law

50 Pages Posted: 23 Oct 2013 Last revised: 21 Dec 2013

See all articles by Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K. Hadfield

University of Toronto; Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence; OpenAI; Center for Human-Compatible AI

Barry R. Weingast

Stanford University, Department of Political Science

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 7, 2013

Abstract

Many social scientists rely on the rule of law in their accounts of political or economic development. Many however simply equate law with a stable government capable of enforcing the rules generated by a political authority. As two decades of largely failed efforts to build the rule of law in poor and transition countries and continuing struggles to build international legal order demonstrate, we still do not understand how legal order is produced, especially in places where it does not already exist. We here canvas literature in the social sciences to identify the themes and gaps in the existing accounts. We conclude that this literature has failed to produce a microfoundational account of the phenomenon of legal order. We then discuss our recent effort to develop the missing microfoundations of legal order to provide a better framework for future work on the rule of law.

Suggested Citation

Hadfield, Gillian K. and Weingast, Barry R., Microfoundations of the Rule of Law (November 7, 2013). Forthcoming, Annual Review of Political Science, Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 453, USC CLASS Research Paper No. 13-5, USC Law Legal Studies Paper No. 13-17, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2342882 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2342882

Gillian K. Hadfield (Contact Author)

University of Toronto ( email )

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Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence ( email )

OpenAI ( email )

Center for Human-Compatible AI ( email )

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United States

Barry R. Weingast

Stanford University, Department of Political Science ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305-6010
United States
650-723-0497 (Phone)
650-723-1808 (Fax)

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