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International Law

University of Maine School of Law

Journal

Nation-building

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The Role Of Public Interest Groups In Nation-Building: A Maine Lawyer's Experience In Mongolia, Richard A. Spencer Oct 2017

The Role Of Public Interest Groups In Nation-Building: A Maine Lawyer's Experience In Mongolia, Richard A. Spencer

Maine Law Review

In 2006, I spent three months in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia working as an environmental lawyer with a small Mongolian human rights group called the Center for Human Rights and Development (CHRD). CHRD was working to stop human trafficking, promote human rights, and protect the environment in the face of extreme poverty, government secrecy, corruption, and a post-Soviet government dominated by former members of the Communist party. During my time assisting the staff at CHRD, I felt I could hear the voice of James Madison echoing through the centuries and across the globe. In The Federalist No. 10, Madison suggested that the …


Volunteer Lawyers And Nation-Building: Using Experience To Serve The World Community, Jean C. Berman Oct 2017

Volunteer Lawyers And Nation-Building: Using Experience To Serve The World Community, Jean C. Berman

Maine Law Review

It is with great pride that I note the participation of four International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP) volunteers in this Symposium of the Maine Law Review. These highly accomplished lawyers, three of whom are from Maine and one from Canada, demonstrate perfectly the premises on which ISLP was founded: first, that the skills and experience of senior-level lawyers from the United States and elsewhere can be of great value to emerging democracies, social justice activists, and nations struggling to overcome poverty; and second, that there is a burgeoning pool of such lawyers, both retired and in active practice, who are …


The Role Of A Banking System In Nation-Building, John L. Douglas Oct 2017

The Role Of A Banking System In Nation-Building, John L. Douglas

Maine Law Review

It seems strange to have a discussion of nation-building devoted to the importance of a banking system. After all, when we think of nations, we think of constitutions, borders, and functioning governments. When we think of failed nations, we think of a lack of effective government, a loss of control over society, and a breakdown in law and order. Banks hardly figure into that discussion at all. Indeed, in our society, while banks play an important role, they usually reside quietly in the background. Many of us never set foot in a bank. Our paychecks may be deposited in a …


The Importance Of Commercial Law In The Legal Architecture Of Post-Conflict "New" States, Michael J. Stepek Oct 2017

The Importance Of Commercial Law In The Legal Architecture Of Post-Conflict "New" States, Michael J. Stepek

Maine Law Review

In the era of international relations ushered in by the end of the Cold War, nation-building has become all the rage. In a burst of Wilsonian optimism, Western countries have sought to recreate failed states in their own image, fashioning new governmental institutions from the ashes of violent conflict or civil collapse. These projects became possible in a fresh environment of international consensus that has prevailed since the middle of the 1990s. Developing improved legal institutions has been considered a particularly important component of any state-building project and has been a primary focus of almost all such efforts. A new …


Refugees And Internally Displaced: A Challenge To Nation-Building, Rebecca M.M. Wallace, Diego Quiroz Oct 2017

Refugees And Internally Displaced: A Challenge To Nation-Building, Rebecca M.M. Wallace, Diego Quiroz

Maine Law Review

Recent statistics published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicate that there are at least 32.9 million people who are “persons of concern to UNHCR.” This growing population includes “refugees, returnees, [and] stateless and internally displaced persons (IDPs).” Furthermore, it is estimated that there are some “[thirty] states in the world . . . that are at some stage or another along the road to possible failure.” These are weak states beset by invasion, civil war, ethnic rivalry and tribal warfare, or struggling in the wake of any of these catastrophes. Given that 2006 saw a fifty-six …