The Dark Side Of Legal Technical Assistance: Lessons From Fieldwork In Kosovo

International organisations and the EU or individual states have frequently sponsored and funded projects of legal technical assistance in third countries, including post-conflict areas. They have done so with the intention of promoting and guiding legislative reforms, judicial training, and more generally reforms in the domain of legal systems. These projects would – at least in the intentions of their promoters – have substantially contributed to the social, economic, and political development of these countries in economic, social and political transition. This chapter, which also draws on the author’s fieldwork in Kosovo, emphasises that only the proper practice of comparative law can significantly contribute to limiting the serious shortcomings that characterises these internationally-funded projects