At least in part, the reasons lie in the seeming inability of those holding the reins of government to employ law effectively to change those behaviors and the institutions they comprise. Laws serve as government s principal tool for exercising state power to foster democratic social, political and economic change. To ensure their legitimacy, governments everywhere translate their publicly-avowed, seriously intended policies into law. Almost everywhere, existing institutions determine the shape of countries' persistent social problems. An institution consists of a set of repetitive patterns of human beings' behavior.
Governments usually pronounce policy in relatively broad, vague terms.
Typically, civil servants work with lawyers in a central drafting office to translate the policy into the specific, detailed provisions of the law. This program offers a four-month residence course at Boston University for drafters civil servants, legislators and legislative aids, and university lectures from developing and transitional countries. It aims particularly at personnel who expect to return to their countries, not only to work as drafters, but to help train others in legislative theory, methodology and techniques. This seminar deals with the nuts and bolts of drafting research reports and bills. Each participant writes a highly structured research report and learns the techniques of writing bills.