This chapter introduces the book's central puzzle: why have courts in DR Congo's eastern provinces responded forcefully to widespread sexual and gender-based violence, prioritizing sexual assault cases and foregrounding the rights of victims, when courts in South Africa have failed in the same endeavor? Existing literature would lead us to expect that state strength and capacity, combined with a robust and transnationally networked domestic human rights movement in South Africa would increase the likelihood of effective human rights norm diffusion and implementation in domestic courts. The book shows; however, that state fragility in DR Congo's east has instead created opportunities for non-state actors such as NGOs to exert influence over legal processes normally reserved for the sovereign government. External actors working in DR Congo have thus succeeded in directing judicial attention towards gender-based crimes, whereas similarly situated organizations working in South Africa have been onstructed in their efforts. The chapter summarizes the research approach adopted by the book, and discusses key literatures.