Development Assistance, Institution Building, and Social Cohesion after Civil War: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Liberia

Can brief, foreign-funded efforts to build local institutions have positive effects on local patterns of governance, cooperation, and well-being? Prior research suggests that such small-scale, externally driven interventions are unlikely to substantially alter patterns of social interaction in a community, and that the ability of a community to act collectively is the result of a slow and necessarily indigenous process. We address this question using a randomized field experiment to assess the effects of a community-driven reconstruction (CDR) project carried out by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in northern Liberia. The project attempted to build democratic, community-level institutions for making and implementing decisions about local public goods. We find powerful evidence that the program was successful in increasing social cohesion, some evidence that it reinforced democratic political attitudes and increased confidence in local decision-making procedures, but only weak evidence that material well-being was positively affected. There is essentially no evidence of adverse effects.Liberia; reconstruction; post-conflict; institution building; democracy; development; peacebuilding

Viewpoint Discrimination, Hate Speech, and Political Legitimacy: A Reply

Part of Symposium: Hate Speech and Political Legitimac

Database Protection and the First Amendment

Symposium: The Constitutionality of Protecting Factual Compilation

Combining the Best of Gunther and Sullivan

In the field of casebooks, there are few classics, but Gerald Gunther\u27s Constitutional Law has long been viewed as one of them. More than twenty years ago it was heralded in the Harvard Law Review as the Hart and Wechsler of constitutional law. After decades of solo authorship, Gunther is joined on the 13th edition by Kathleen Sullivan, who was primarily responsible for revising (among other sections) the chapters on freedom of expression. This partnership has succeeded in improving what was already perhaps the strongest section of the book. This Review examines the organization of the free expression materials, considers the selection and editing of cases, and comments on the notes and questions. But this casebook is not merely a teaching tool; it is also a scholarly work bristling with ideas. At the end of thisRreview, the author will identify and engage an overarching view that finds expression in the notes and more subtly in the organization of the free speech material

Hate Speech Bans, Democracy, and Political Legitimacy

Part of Symposium: Hate Speech and Political Legitimac