Responsive and Responsible: Making Politics Part of UNDP’s Rule of Law Agenda

Working politically smart is receiving growing recognition in development and peacebuilding. This brief, drawing on a review of literature and interviews with rule of law practitioners, examines why politics has been only marginally represented in rule of law reform.

We look at why this matters, and then go on to consider how working politically smart can be included in rule of law practice. The brief focuses on UN and United Nations Development Programme in particular. The main message is that for agencies such as UNDP more responsive and responsible policies and actions are required in order to effectively meet the demands and challenges of complex transformational rule of law change in fragile and conflict-ridden settings.