Building the rule of law : firsthand accounts from a thirty-year global campaign / James R. Silkenat and Gerold W. Libby, editors.

"This book describes the beginnings of CEELI, the obstacles it overcame, the challenges it faced, and the ABA leaders who built it. It will then look at the practical, real life, on-the-ground influence that CEELI and its successor organization, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI), have had on various jurisdictions around the world and on the evolving legal and political systems in them. It will also evaluate the impact that this Rule of Law movement has had on a wide range of individual lawyers and judges"-- Provided by publisher.

"Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the disintegration of the Soviet Union two years later, the world saw an unprecedented number of countries displace totalitarian regimes and seek to create new, freer societies based on principles of the rule of law. Some central European countries formerly under Soviet domination had a still-living older generation that had kmnown life under a democratic government. For centuries long a part of the Soviet Union intself, however, Soviet communism was the only government they had known. What tools or experience could they draw on to bring about such sweeping changes? This book tells the story of an unprecedented volunteer effort that answered calls from around the world for rule of law assistance. Over the past 30 years, more than 5,000 unpaid volunteers, ranging from young lawyers to Supreme Court Justices, have responded through a series of initiatives often likened to a " rule of law Marshall Plan." Hundreds of volunteers livedabroad without pay for a year or more in challenging, occasionally dangerous, circumstances. These inspiring efforts, still ongoing, have now exteded to more than 100 countries. They have strengthened the rule of law and, in the process, changed the lives of countless people around the world as well as the lives of scores of American volunteers themselves."-- Unedited summary from book.