The Legal Assistance in Administrative Law and the Suggestions for the Administrative Law Theory

Abstract

The JICA's experience of legal assistance (Assistance in drafting of the law on administrative procedure) in Uzbekistan shows that in establishing assistance policies for administrative law reforms in Asian countries transiting from the planned economy to a market economy, it is imperative that a “meta-theory of administrative law” shall be examined as the foundation of such assistance.

Why was it not enough just to examine the “administrative law” itself? Why is it that first of all we have to talk about a “meta-theory” that supports the growth and evolution of “administrative law” in the relevant country? The reason is because our experience in Uzbekistan has made us realize that in order to create and develop the “transitional administrative law” in Asian countries that are heading towards market economy, we have to start from the search for a foundational “paradigm”.

In pursuit of the “paradigm”, I would like to refer to the arguments made by Wang Yueshen (Beijing University), a Chinese institutional economist. This institutionalist approach introduces the concept of “process and institutional change” in parallel with a Marxist economist theory. Instead of economic theory, I would talk about “administrative law”, and instead of “China” I would examine the case of “Uzbekistan”.

“Reforms in China, an example of institutional changes, have been offering a valuable “laboratory” for new-institutional economics to verify and develop its own theories. The western macro- and microeconomic theories deal with mature market economies and are far from relevant for the situation of China which is in the initial stage of a market economy. Therefore, Chinese economists are facing difficulties in pursuing researches within the scope of conventional economic studies. However, the new-institutional economics is different. The institutional shortages and confusing orders, the institutional transition from a planned economy to a market economy, the formation of institutions and the resulting process of influences on the economy, have all given rise to an excellent chance for Chinese economic scholars to conduct their researches”.