Contrary to the unexamined assumption that democracy goes hand-in-hand with the rule of law, this study argues that the root of the crisis in legal institutions is a lag in the democratization of the judicial arm government. Although the executive and the legislative arms of government have been relatively democratized in many parts of the world, the judicial arm, including policing, courts, and corrections, remains essentially feudal as the emphases on force, bureaucratization, authoritarianism, and imperialism guide ideologies of legal institutions.
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