Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Acronyms
Figures
Part One: Law, Order, and Conflict
Chapter 1: Understanding the Challenge
Chapter 2: The Rule of Law After Conflict
Chapter 3: Understanding and Engaging Pluralist Legal Orders
Part Two: Contending Orders after Conflict
Chapter 4: From Competition to Cooperation: State-Building in Timor-Leste
Chapter 5: Cooperation and Exclusion: International Support in Timor-Leste
Chapter 6: From Competition to Combat: State-Building in Afghanistan
Chapter 7: International Subsidization of a Rentier State in Afghanistan
Chapter 8: Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Geoffrey Swenson is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at City, University of London.

Reviews

From vivid cases studies, Swenson skillfully illuminates the challenges of judicial state-building, a vital but understudied element of democratic state-building. Persuasively arguing that domestic and international actors too often neglect engagement with non-state justice institutions, he elevates legal pluralism as a normative and practical goal. A sophisticated yet accessible analysis grounded in realism and animated by hope." -Thomas Carothers, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

This is a highly original and much-needed analysis of how state-builders should interact with non-state legal authorities. With a rare blend of first-hand experience, plus training as a lawyer and a political scientist, Swenson offers us valuable insights on how state elites and aid agents can ensure that plural legal systems are cooperative rather than combative. His masterful contrast of Afghanistan and Timor-Leste shows how historical comparison can advance both better policy-making and better institutional theory for post-war societies. It merits a broad audience." -Nancy Bermeo, Oxford University and Princeton University

Rule of law is widely regarded as one of the most basic, and therefore one of the most important, aspects of democratic state-building in the context of post-conflict recovery efforts. Focusing on the challenges of legal pluralism, Swenson articulates a highly original and compelling approach to reconciling traditional and international judicial norms and practices. A masterful work of scholarship." -Richard Caplan, author of Measuring Peace

Contending Orders provides a sophisticated analysis of different justice institutions and the dynamics of legal pluralism in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste. Dr Geoffrey Swenson has been uniquely qualified to analyse empirical facts thoughtfully and to make original contribution to theory and practice. This important book makes a difference. It needs to be read by both academics and policymakers." -Ali Wardak, University of South Wales, UK

This book is published at a timely inflection point, following the fall of the regime in Afghanistan to the Taliban. That experience led many policy wonks to proclaim that 'international actors can't do state-building.' As Swenson ably shows, state-building can be done with positive outcomes. Swenson rightly zeros in on different types of legal pluralism in the relationship between formal and informal legal institutions. If Western actors had that focus from the outset in Afghanistan, perhaps a radically different outcome might have been achieved. To avoid squandering future opportunities, rule of law practitioners should keep Contending Orders close at hand." -Erik Jensen, Stanford Law School

Contending Orders is tremendously valuable not only for its original empirical assessment of judicial state-building interventions but also its creative theory building and testing efforts. In the field of peacebuilding, the book is a timely contribution to the mainstream problem-solving literature that evaluates the impact of liberal state-building and peacebuilding interventions with the objective of improving the efficacy of international efforts. With more than three decades of international rule of law promotion in war-torn countries, Contending Orders helps to address the empirical knowledge gap about the impact of these measures on the ground.
*Mohamed Sesay, Perspectives on Politics*

Swenson's monograph is a welcome change in the scholarship on legal pluralism. Swenson emphasises the importance of taking non-state judicial institutions and its instruments seriously as tools for pursuing the rule of law. His writing is clear and leaves the reader to appreciate why there should be more positive and optimistic engagement with normative orders beyond the state... Thus, Contending Orders is a book not just for scholars who are interested in legal pluralism: it is also a valuable resource for those who are in the field as practitioners assisting with justice sector building initiatives in societies where the non-state justice system thrives.
*Dr. Sapna Reheem Shaila, Max Weber Fellow in the Department of Law at the European University Institute*

This is a fine study, and any scholars with interests in the rule of law in Timor--Leste and in Afghanistan will profit from reading it.
*William Maley, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia*

The book will be useful for scholars and policy-makers concerned with state-building and construction of legal orders in post-conflict spaces.
*Mujeeb Kanth, Internatinational Peacekeeping*

The book will be useful for scholars and policy-makers concerned with state building and construction of legal orders in post-conflict spaces.
*Mujeeb Kanth, International Peacekeeping*

The value of Swenson's work lies in its capacity to transcend the specifics of individual case studies, offering theoretical insights that are universally applicable. By developing a comprehensive framework for understanding the interplay between state and non-state justice systems, Swenson provides a robust tool for analysing legal pluralism in diverse contexts. Swenson's typology of legal pluralism - encompassing combative, competitive, cooperative and complementary forms - is an indispensable analytical framework for policymakers and state-builders navigating complex legal landscapes.
*Federica Marconi, Italian Journal of International Affairs*

Contending Orders provides precise conceptual tools to comprehend the challenges posed by legal pluralism. The book will be useful for scholars and policy-makers concerned with state-building and construction of legal orders in post-conflict spaces.
*Mujeeb Kanth, International Peacekeeping*

Contending Orders serves as an important aide-m-emoire that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' model for judicialstate-building in legally pluralistic societies. Success - at a minimum -depends on patience and longtermcommitment, flexibility and openmindedness, and making judicious policy choices informed by a thoroughunderstanding of the normative and cultural underpinnings of legal order in a post-conflict setting.
*Adam Kochanski, The Journal of Development Studies*