The essay aims to review from a comparative law perspective the premises and postures underpinning Western efforts to transplant the rule of law outside the West. In order to do so, the paper first examines the historical and cultural foundations of the rule of law in the West and then scrutinizes its actual potential for being exported in non-Western societies. Through a historical and comparative analysis, the paper sheds light on a set of data that are usually either discarded or underrated in mainstream legal debates.
