Analyzing Legal Formality and Informality: Lessons From Land-Titling and Microfinance Programs

Despite the fact that China has experienced incredible growth, there is a great deal of pressure on it to adopt a more formal legal framework—particularly with respect to economic matters. Chicago School law and economics—emphasizing the importance of formal law for development, particularly for protecting private property and the enforcing of contracts—has been influential in this discourse.2 This book has argued, however, that Chicago-style law and economics makes assumptions about the economy, as well as what the law is and how it functions, that are far from trivial and mostly untrue. Kennedy and Stiglitz in their introduction to this volume, as well as Chapters 1, 4, and 5, highlight some of these limitations and analyze their implications. Here, we focus on one particular aspect of this legal tradition: the Chicago School underestimates the difficulty of fully articulating a set of rules, as well as the role that social norms play in the legal process. As we will show, property rights are fundamentally affected by norms of use, and contracts are never complete. We will focus on four central questions. First, how does the de Soto scheme perform? In particular, as the most recent vintage of high-profile formal law reform projects, does it overcome the chronic problems faced by its predecessors—legal transplants that fail to “take root” in the developing world? Second, how does the more informal, community-based Grameen model perform, especially in relative terms? Third, how do these two models relate to the Chinese experience? Fourth, how can the relationship between law and norms be characterized, and what insights do these two experiments have for our understanding of this relationship? To what extent should we view formal law and informal norms as substitutes or complements? The central task of the chapter will be to draw insights from the comparison of formal and informal means to achieve a common developmental goal—in this case, access to credit—for systems of regulation in general. The chapter is divided into four parts. The first frames the discussion, while the following section compares the two alternative models of institutional evolution—the Yunus and de Soto programs—in terms of their efficiency and equity impacts and analyzes them in static and dynamic terms. The third section examines how the two models relate to the Chinese experience and the fourth section concludes

The promise and peril of paralegal aid

Strengthening the rule of law and promoting access to justice in developing countries have been longstanding international policy objectives. However, the standard policy tools, such as technical assistance and material aid, are routinely criticized for failing to achieve their objectives. The rare exception is paralegal aid, which is almost universally lauded by policymakers and scholars as effective in promoting the rule of law and access to justice. This belief, however, rests on a very limited empirical foundation regarding what paralegal programs accomplish and under what theory they operate. This paper critically examines the conventional wisdom surrounding paralegal initiatives through case studies of two successful paralegal programs in post-conflict Timor-Leste that are broadly representative of the type of initiatives commonly implemented in developing countries. These programs did improve access to justice services, bolster choice between dispute resolution forums, and increase local knowledge of progressive norms on human rights and women’s rights. Yet, as this article shows, even successful programs can expect to achieve only incremental gains in promoting the rule of law because advances largely depend on alignment with the priorities of powerful state and non-state actors, donors, program implementers, and paralegals themselves. To date, the literature has not acknowledged these limitations. This article addresses this gap by demonstrating that paralegal aid faces multiple challenges that mean paralegals cannot necessarily transcend or modify deep seated norms and power structures. These issues include principal agent-problems due to the extensive delegation required, internal limitations resulting from paralegals’ limited authority and independence, and external constraints from state and non-state justice actors. Paralegal programs also face program design, implementation, and sustainability challenges. Consequently, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers need to adopt a more balanced view of paralegal aid

Making mentoring work: The need for rewiring epistemology

To help produce expert coaches at both participation and performance levels, a number of governing bodies have established coach mentoring systems. In light of the limited literature on coach mentoring, as well as the risks of superficial treatment by coach education systems, this paper therefore critically discusses the role of the mentor in coach development, the nature of the mentor-mentee relationship and, most specifically, how expertise in the mentee may best be developed. If mentors are to be effective in developing expert coaches then we consequently argue that a focus on personal epistemology is required. On this basis, we present a framework that conceptualizes mentee development on this level through a step by step progression, rather than unrealistic and unachievable leap toward expertise. Finally, we consider the resulting implications for practice and research with respect to one-on-one mentoring, communities of practice, and formal coach education

Teacher Education As Democratic Public Sphere

Being a proficient and professional teacher in Australia and similar countries is one of the most difficult and complex occupations imaginable. All teachers are confronted with carefully analysing the mix of socio-economic and cultural factors that present and design appropriate learning strategies that engage all students. Within this context, the following essay considers the purpose and structure of initial teacher preparation and possible changes to more traditional arrangements. It advocates a new type of school-university partnership where reflective cycles of practice-theory establish a close relationship with knowledge for all participants and where personal practice is the necessary condition of learning. Schools and classrooms are theorised as democratic public spheres where participants pursue understanding of serious issues for equity and the public good. Implications of partnership and public sphere for a new form of educational practice are discussed

NGO provision of basic education: alternative or complementary service delivery to support access to the excluded?

While access to state schooling has grown in many countries in recent years, a hardcore of marginalised children continue to be excluded from this. Some of these children are able to gain access to education through non-state provision. The focus of this paper is on primaryschool aged children who find access through (international) non-government organisations (NGOs). Based on a review of the available literature, the paper shows that there have been fluctuations in attention paid to NGO provision by education researchers since the 1970s. Changes are due in part to the prevailing political and economic environment, as well as to pressure placed on international agencies and national governments to reach education targets. The paper also shows that there has been a shift in the priorities of these providers over this period, from seeing themselves as supporting a parallel, alternative system of education independent of the state system, towards one aimed at being complementary to the state system, with the intention of ultimately supporting children’s access to a state-provided education. The paper highlights that much of the available literature suggests that NGO provision often intends to bring benefits in terms of the alternative forms of pedagogy and accountability it aims to offer. However, as the paper indicates, there is very little systematic, critical analysis of who is gaining access to education offered by alternative providers, or what they are actually getting access to. As such, there is a need for analysis of educational access to pay greater attention to diverse forms of access – both in terms of who provides, and what is provided. Moreover, changes in priorities associated with the effects of the international economic and political agenda, along with the intention of integrating multiple providers of education into a system-wide approach, give rise to the need for an analysis of the implications for NGO-government collaboration to ensure sustainability of educational access to those who would otherwise be excluded

Redefining Roles, Responsibilities, and Authority of School Leaders

Addresses the core challenges faced by principals and other school leaders faced with high expectations and accountability and inconsistent or limited support, based on current research literature in the field