That Signifier of Desire, the Rule of Law

Calls for the rule of law sometimes signify desire for substantive political and legal equality, and sometimes are used to justify technical interventions, especially to reform courts and police. While the rule of law can generate confusion by signifying different desires for different people, in Myanmar it is more problematic when used to justify technical interventions. Mistaking intention for weakness, the advocates of institutional fixes insufficiently recognize that the rule of law’s absence in Myanmar is not an instance of failure. It has been willed. To talk of rule-of-law reform via institutions actively opposed to the rule of law is not sensible. The best prospects for the rule of law in Myanmar lie instead with the desires it signifies, and the political demands and actions it motivates.