Building on What Works: Local Actors and Service Delivery in Fragile Situations

People cannot take for granted that centrally governed state institutions such as the police and courts can or will provide adequate justice and security, or that the state is the only vehicle to deliver governance and development. In this chapter we explore some of the key challenges and dilemmas of international support to local actors in plural legal orders where there is not one, but a variety of institutions and sets of law that influence the production of order. The overarching argument is that justice and security provision represents political arenas where power, resources and rights are at stake. Providers often compete with each other over clients and authority, and justice and security provision is frequently subject to the interests of politicians, traders and other local leaders. Security and justice programming will therefore inevitably involve political choices and have political implications, which in turn must be reflected in how programmes are designed.