While naturally speeding up the reform process, the coup in Russia has in another way hindered the center's efforts a bit, by making fundraising for the project increasingly difficult.

"It felt to a lot of funders like they would be taking part in an internal conflict, supporting the Russian Federation against the Union Governments," she says.

Because of the "mind boggling" pace of legislative change in the government, Reynolds says, the program's work must be accomplished speedily, so the momentary dip in funding could be quite serious.

"There are 88 fundamental laws on the Russian agenda for the fall that could change life in the Soviet Union for some time to come," Reynolds says.

Despite the setbacks, though, officials at the Center believe the program in Russia can still be of great value.

"We will go on with it, fostering a long-term working relationship between experts and their Russian colleagues," Reynolds says.

"The schedule of events are such that an awful lot has to happen within the next two years," Heymann says. "It's a very exciting place to be, so it could go on much longer."

"It's a country that badly needs help," McGillis says. "It's also intellectually interesting. How do you build a new legal system on the ruins of a communist system?"

Program officials aren't exactly sure what the best way of finding such a solution. But at least one way they will not go about achieving such a task, Reynolds says, is by simply transposing American conceptions abroad.

Reynolds says that the first job of the working groups is to spend time immersing themselves in the study of Russian culture and society.

"You can't simply go from an American legal system to Russia unless you know the culture, economy and policy," she says.

Reynolds says that the Russian program will continue for at least two more years, at a cost of about $250,000 a year. Funding for the Russian project has come primarily from the Carnegie Foundation, as well as Rockefeller Family and Associates. Other work done by the center is likewise funded by non-Harvard sources, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ford Foundation.

Shaping South Africa

Unlike the programs in Russia and Colombia, the center's involvement in South Africa was initiated solely by academics.

Heymann says the program has been spearheaded by himself and Anthony Mathews, a professor at South Africa's University of Natal who specializes in limitations on speech and state powers to arrest and hold.