Rule of law promotion: US and EU experiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ukraine

This chapter scrutinizes the rule of law promotion in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine. Policy transfer agents are American, international and European institutions whose bureaucrats or elected representatives define and prescribe norms and standards, monitor and supervise the implementation of judicial reforms, provide financial support for drafting legislation and national strategies, and ultimately help domestic actors to enhance the rule of law at the domestic level. The chapter shows that rule of law promotion is a dynamic field where the USAID, the EU, the CoE, the OSCE and the OECD contribute to a large extent to the diffusion of core ideas on how to strengthen the rule of law in countries in transition. Over the last decades, their cooperation has led to increased policy convergence in their approaches. However, in recent years, these IOs have been challenged both from below and from within to consider negative lessons and to develop new programs with a focus on ownership and domestic specificities. Knowledge gained from past experiences and a series of negative lessons on the ground (policy learning), backed by strong criticism emanating from beneficiary countries and experts themselves, have led both American and European actors to consider a possible redefinition of their rule of law approaches and to try to improve their cooperation on the ground (policy coordination). The chapter shows that both American and European actors seek to increase domestic ownership and claim to put in place tailor-made solutions for reform in order to consider the domestic situation and the judicial tradition of the country concerned.