What Is the Rule of Law? Perspectives from Myanmar: Commentary on Opposing the Rule of Law: How Myanmar’s Courts Make Law and Order by Nick Cheesman

What is the rule of law? This much celebrated concept serves as the basis for policy advocacy, reform movements, and rankings. Yet it remains very difficult to define. In Opposing the Rule of Law, Nick Cheesman takes a new approach. Instead of asking what the rule of law is, he asks what it is not. His deep historical and contextual analysis of the way the law works in Myanmar shows both that the concept of rule of law blurs with ideas of law and order and also that understanding how it works requires examining how it is embedded within political and ideological systems.