The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation

About Our Programs

Upcoming Programs

Exchanges

Mansfield Fellowship Program

Japan Legislative Exchange

All China Youth Federation

Women in Politics and Public Service

Mansfield Congressional Study Tour on Asia

Other Exchanges

Dialogues

Forging New U.S.-ROK Relations

Trilateral Retreats

Mansfield Pacific Retreats

Entrepreneurship in Asia

Rule of Law in Asia

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American—Pacific Lecture Series

Supplemental Seminars, Conferences & Symposia

Visiting Fellows

Rule of Law in Asia

The Mansfield Foundation initiated its Rule of Law Project in order to advance an open and precise dialogue on the Rule of Law and what it entails in Asia. The project has consisted a series of conferences and dialogues in Asia and the United States as well as two publications (The Rule of Law: A Lexicon for Policy Makers and The Rule of Law: Perspectives from the Pacific Rim).

The project began in May 1999, when the Mansfield Foundation co-sponsored with the Global Forum of Japan a symposium on "The Rule of Law and Its Acceptance in Asia." Funded by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, this conference provided an open forum for scholars, legal practitioners and policy makers to examine the core components of the Rule of Law and the economic and political implications of the Rule of Law for nations in Asia. In preparation for this conference, with funding support from The Luce Foundation, the Foundation commissioned Barry Hager, an attorney and specialist in international finance, trade and administrative law, to write The Rule of Law: A Lexicon for Policy Makers. This publication served as the basis of discussion at the Tokyo conference and has been a resource throughout the project.

The candid and spirited exchanges at the Tokyo conference suggested a continuing need to examine and parse the Rule of Law and its core components, particularly as they apply to economic and political life in Asia. As a result, the Mansfield Foundation organized a series of Mansfield Dialogues in Asia and the United States for scholars, practitioners and policy makers. The first series, funded by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, took place in Asia in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in December 1999, with Beijing University School of Law, Fudan University School of Law and City University of Hong Kong School of Law. With a grant from The Starr Foundation, the Foundation organized additional dialogues in September 2000 in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Taipei and Seoul. These dialogues were co-sponsored with the Institute of State and Law in Vietnam, National Taiwan University, and Kyungnam University in Korea. The discussions in Asia were followed by a retreat and conference in Missoula, Montana, and a conference with the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

In the course of carrying out the Rule of Law project, the Mansfield Foundation assembled a group of scholarly papers on the Rule of Law. With funding from The Starr Foundation, ten of the most outstanding of these papers were published in a compendium entitled The Rule of Law: Perspectives from the Pacific Rim.

Beginning in 2002, the Mansfield Foundationwill organize an annual retreat on the Rule of Law and publish an annual report on the Status of the Development of the Rule of Law in Asia. The 2002 Retreat was held in Taiwan May 22-26, 2002.