Democracy and the Rule of Law

Democracy and the Rule of Law is based upon a 2000 conference, jointly sponsored by the Law Library of Congress and the New York University School of Law. It features over 40 essays exploring the crucial dynamic between the concepts of democracy and the rule of law. This book is valuable to students and scholars interested in the spread of democracy in many parts of the world. It also shows how different countries with contrasting legal traditions commonly confront major problems under their constitutions. The essays focus on significant comparative and international legal and political issues, including: Transnational justice and national sovereigntyNatural resources and the environmentThe role of womenPolitical status and democracy in multi-ethnic and multi-racial statesLaw and accountabilityReligion and culture. Eminent U.S. and foreign scholars and dignitaries, including judges, university professors, politicians, and high-ranking government administrators, serve as contributors.

Norman Dorsen is the Frederick I. and Grace A. Stokes Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. He is co-director of the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program at NYU and is president of the U.S. Association of Constitutional Law Board. He wrote briefs in such leading cases as Gideon v. Wainwright, the Pentagon papers case, Roe v. Wade, and the Nixon tapes case. He served as president of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1976 to 1991. He was chairman of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights for four years and is founding president of the U.S. Association of Constitutional Law. Dorsen has written scores of articles and written or edited nine books, including Human Rights in Northern Ireland, Political and Civil Rights: The ACLU Report on Civil Liberties Today, and The Rights of Americans: What They Are, What They Should Be. Prosser Gifford is Director of Scholarly Programs at the Library of Congress. He has directed a variety of special programs and projects at the Library of Congress, including establishing the Japan Documentation Center (1992); organizing a major exhibition of Treasures from the Bibliotheque nationale de France (1995); setting up the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library competition (1996); and organizing the first of a series of LC Bicentennial symposia, including the Democracy and the Rule of Law symposium.