"When Does the Law Rule? The Politics of Banking Sector Legal Reform in the Post-Communist Region after 1989"

Spendzharova, Aneta B. (2007) "When Does the Law Rule? The Politics of Banking Sector Legal Reform in the Post-Communist Region after 1989". In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2007 (10th), May 17-19, 2007, pages 37, Montreal, Canada.

Abstract

[From the introduction]. My dissertation contributes to two lively debates in comparative politics today: What factors have led to the divergent liberal and illiberal trajectories of reform in transitional countries, and how have international actors influenced legal reform in the region – for better or for worse? We still need to deepen our knowledge of the processes that promote the adoption and implementation of good quality laws across different issue areas. I ask: How do governments decide whether to reform the country's legal framework and which course of legal change to pursue? Which mobilized actors, both domestic and international, influence legal change? To investigate these questions, I focus on legal reform of the banking sector in the post-communist region. This chapter is organized in the following way: to begin with, I outline three important lines of interpretation of the rule of law and clarify where my research fits in the broader context of the rule of law literature. In the next section, I explain why the transformation of the banking sector legal framework is a worthwhile subject of inquiry and how it relates to broader questions raised during the transition process. After that, I present briefly the theoretical argument that I develop in my dissertation. Next, I clarify the dependent variable in my analysis: the quality of legal reform. The following section elaborates on the independent variables, which I have organized into two categories: the domestic determinants and the international determinants of legal reform. The section presenting the independent variables in my analysis also provides greater detail of the theoretical underpinnings of my project and how my research contributes to the different literatures that I use. Subsequently, I introduce two alternative hypotheses concerning the role of economic development and culture. At the end of this chapter, I describe the research methods employed in my dissertation and summarize the research hypotheses derived from my argument about the role of strategic political action in the course of legal reform.