Cookie Cutter Syndrome: Legal Reform Assistance under Post-Communist Democratization Programs, The

This article begins with a brief background of ADR, democratization programs, and legal reform programs. Section Three describes the Cookie Cutter Syndrome and examines the assumptions that shape legal reform efforts and that impact if and how ADR is used. Section Four examines how legal and judicial reform programs could look more broadly at using various forms of ADR to more effectively change the legal cultures in post-communist societies. The article concludes that legal reform assistance needs to further individualize programs for the conditions in specific countries, and that assistance programs should more fully integrate ADR.

I do not recommend that all forms of ADR are always applicable in all countries or in all legal reform programs. Instead, I recommend that ADR in its various forms should be an integral part of the analysis of how to approach legal and judicial reform.