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This paper explores the paradox of why the US serves as a principal supporter of the World Trade Organization (WTO), but withdrew from the obligatory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and strongly opposed creation of the International Criminal Court. After surveying the 171 cases before the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) from 1995–2005, in which the US was a party, the paradox can be explained by the findings that: (1) the overwhelming number of cases to which the US was party reached mutually acceptable settlements; (2) even though the US and the European Union (EU) dominate the WTO, the DSU serves as a mechanism to resolve otherwise possibly intractable trade conflicts between the two; (3) where the US lost before the WTO, domestic policies, not trade, were the driving forces; and (4) membership to the WTO is essential for any nation if it is not to subject both its imports and its exports to significant handicaps. The US also retains a gate-keeping function within the WTO f...

Postwar El Salvador and Guatemala have undertaken to reform and democratize the state and to support the rule of law. Each country entered the 1990s hobbled by a legacy of authoritarian rule, while a corrupt and politicized judiciary offered virtually no check on the abuse of power. Because the judiciary has performed poorly as an institution of horizontal accountability, this article examines the performance of a new “accountability agency,” the Human Rights Ombudsman. The article discusses the context in which the office was established and developed in each country, perceptions of its performance, and political responses as the office began to perform its function of holding public officials accountable in their exercise of power. Unfortunately, this new office may fall prey to the same weaknesses that have plagued older institutions in both countries.

Research on democratic transitions in Latin America often ignore the importance of judicial systems — and related institutions — in achieving ‘liberal democracy’ and effectively safeguarding human rights, as contrasted with the restoration of ‘electoral democracy.’ This proves especially problematic in the instances of the former military-dominated authoritarian regimes of Central America. This article examines the efforts at judicial system and related reforms in El Salvador since the 1992 Peace Accords, and relates those reforms to popular perceptions, both of previous institutions and of the institutional reforms and new institutions that have been created as part of the peace-making process. The reported survey research results suggest that the reforms on which liberal democracy in El Salvador depends, while generally viewed positively in the abstract, still rest on shaky foundations.

Recent transitions from authoritarianism to democracy have been front‐page news. Often attention to such transitions has focused on efforts to create and sustain democratic elections and to guarantee open political competition between parties that are committed to majority rule. However, equally important in such transitions is the implementation of the rule of law. This article examines the efforts of one country, El Salvador, to re‐establish the rule of law as part of its passage to liberal democracy. The efforts to implement the Salvadoran peace accords that were signed in January 1992 provide the focus. The United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) was created to monitor compliance. One important consequence of the accords was the effort to achieve broad reform of the justice system. Salvador's progress here is evaluated both in respect of the degree of compliance with the accords, and, more importantly, in establishing an independent judiciary that will be capable of protecting human ri...

Introductory Comments by James W. Riddlesperger, Jr., and Donald W. Jackson The Public, the President, and Civil Rights Presidents, Public Opinion, and Civil Rights: An Agenda-Setting Perspective by Jeffrey E. Cohen Presidential Rhetoric in Civil Rights Policymaking, 1953-1992 by Steven A. Shull and Albert C. Ringelstein Moving with the Grain of History: An Examination of Presidential Action in the Civil Rights Domain from 1892 to 1968 by Ronald E. Brown Institutions, the President, and Civil Rights Presidential Leadership Style and Civil Rights Legislation: The Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by James D. King and James W. Riddlesperger, Jr. Affirmative Action and Business Deregulation: On the Reagan Administration's Failure to Revise Executive Order No. 11246 by Robert R. Detlefsen A Transformed Triangle: Court, Congress and Presidency in Civil Rights by Stephen L. Wasby Policy Arenas, the President, and Civil Rights Presidential Decision-Making in Two Desegregation Crises: Little Rock Central High School and the University of Mississippi by Mark Stern John F. Kennedy and the Politics of Civil Rights by Donald W. Jackson and James W. Riddlesperger, Jr. Decentralizing Fair Housing Enforcement During the Reagan Presidency by Charles M. Lamb and Jim Twombly Modeling Presidential Influence in the Civil Rights Policymaking Process by Steven A. Shull and Dennis W. Gleiber Bibliography Index