Introduction Brett Bowden, Hilary Charlesworth and Jeremy Farrall; 1. The 'state-building enterprise': legal doctrine, progress narratives and managerial governance Outi Korhonen; 2. Democratisation, state-building and politics as technology Nehal Bhuta; 3. International law, human rights and the transformative occupation of Iraq Peter G. Danchin; 4. Defining democracy in international institutions Brett Bowden and Hilary Charlesworth; 5. Democracy and legitimation: challenges in the reconstitution of political processes in Afghanistan William Maley; 6. Impossible expectations? The UN security council's promotion of the rule of law after conflict Jeremy Farrall; 7. Legal pluralism and the challenge of building the rule of law in post-conflict states - a case study of Timor-Leste Laura Grenfell; 8. From paper to practice: the role of treaty ratification post-conflict Helen Durham; 9. Selective universality? Human rights accountability of the UN in post-conflict operations Annemarie Devereux; 10. Security starts with the law: the role of international law in the protection of women's security post-conflict Amy Maguire; 11. Grappling in the Great Lakes: the challenges of international justice in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda Phil Clark; 12. Conclusion: hope and humility for weavers with international law John Braithwaite.