The Third Moment in Law and Development Theory and the Emergence of a New Critical Practice

The study of the relationship between law and economic development goes back at least to the nineteenth century. It is a question that attracted the attention of classical thinkers like Marx and Weber. And there were some early efforts to craft policy in this area; for example, under the Raj, some English Utilitarians tried to put Jeremy Bentham’s ideas about law and economic progress into practice in India. But it was only after World War II that systematic and organized efforts to reform legal systems became part of the practice of international development agencies. Initially, development agencies turned to law as an instrument for state policy aimed at generating economic growth. Starting in the 1980s, interest in the role of law in economic development grew, but it was an interest in law more as a framework for market activity than as an instrument of state power. This book argues that, starting in the mid-1990s, development practitioners approached law in a fundamentally new way – as a correction for market failures and as a constitutive part of “development” itself. As a result, “the rule of law” has become significant not only as a tool of development policy, but as an objective for development policy in its own right. This book charts the history of this growing interest in the legal field, explores the shifting rationales behind development policy initiatives, and explores in detail the newest – and most surprising – of these rationales. To do that, we trace the history of a body of ideas about law and economic development that have been employed not just by academics but also by development practitioners responsible for allocating funds and designing projects. In this introduction, we refer to that body of ideas as law and development doctrine. Although this doctrine has academic roots in economic and legal theory, it is a practical working tool of development agencies

Back to the Future: The Short, Happy Life of the Law and Society Movement

The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Meeting of the Law and Society Association: The Ice Cream Social The family has returned to Madison, Wisconsin where it all started. The old-timers are in a mood for celebration and self-congratulation. The past presidents are serving ice cream to a huge crowd of people from all over the world. These founding fathers (the first female president is still in office and isn\u27t yet eligible to serve ice cream) look pleased. This is a world they have made. It is full of old friends, recent students, ardent disciples, a few critics who have at least taken them seriously, and some strangers who (probably) know who they are. To each and all they scoop out free ice cream made by the University of Wisconsin and paid for by the association they struggled to create. It is a charming scene: modest (no caviar, no champagne), friendly (with each cone a kind owrd or two to all), egalitarian (one scoop for each). For a moment, everyone forgets the world outside. Put aside are the scars that family members bear from the struggle to create and maintain this curious project. There have been disappointments, frustrations, no little rage. Some thought they would make brilliant careers in law and other disciplines, only to encounter hostility and indifference. Some thought they would be able to mobilize the money that is needed for empirical research, only to find that funding sources can be indifferent to scholarship that doesn\u27t support conclusions already reached. Some thought students would be fascinated by the insights they could offer on the role of law in society, only to find that students wanted tips on how to pick juries. Some expected to reform American society through law, only to find America wanted little reform and thought it had too much law. But at the ice cream social, all these disappointments could be put aside. The family had survived, and that was enough

Turning Away From Law?

A Review of The Politics of Informal Justice, Volume 1: The American Experience; Volume 2: Comparative Studies by Richard L. Abel and Justice Without Law? by Jerold S. Auerbac

World Trade and Investment Law in a Time of Crisis: Distribution, Development and Social Protection

World trade and investment law is in crisis: new and progressive ideas are needed. Rules that facilitated globalization and supported global economic growth are being challenged. A system of global governance that once seemed secure is now at risk as the US ignores the rules while developing countries struggle to escape restrictions. Some want to tear global institutions and agreements down while others try desperately to maintain the status quo. Rejecting both options, we convened a group of trade and investment law experts from 10 countries South and North who have proposed ideas for a new world trade and investment law that would maintain global growth while distributing costs and benefits more fairly. This essay frames the issues and introduces the volume. We look at the impact of trade and investment law on the global distribution of resources, and pay special attention to those who have suffered from trade dislocation and to restrictions that have hampered innovative growth strategies in developing countries. This perspective shapes a progressive trade and investment law agenda that is outlined in the book and summarized here. We suggest new ways to link trade with protection for labor; measures to ensure that gains from trade are used to offset loses; new rules that can protect foreign investments without hamstringing developing governments or harming local communities; innovative procedures to allow developing countries freedom to try innovative growth strategies; and methods to cope with new products like cannabis

The Legacy of Critical Legal Thought and Transatlantic Endeavours

The following essay is the new introduction for a republication of the conference proceedings of the famous comparative legal theory conference, held in Bremen (Germany) in 1986, between scholars from the Law Schools at Bremen and the University of Wisconsin. The complete proceedings are now being made available - for the first time - online in the German Law Journal. The proceedings were originally published in 1989 in a much revered blue volume, by Nomos Publishing House in Baden-Baden, Germany. The conference had brought together leading figures in critical legal thought from both the United States and Germany for a series of discussions on the evolution of legal thought in both countries from the 19th century onwards into the present, reflecting on the roles of courts, parliaments, law schools, the profession and students in the shaping of legal culture. The conference occurred at a crucial time in the development of legal thought - and practice. The post-World War II social consensus and the welfare state had come under considerable pressure, law and economics had begun its journey to become the most influential \u27law & society\u27 movement, deep-reaching political transformations were under way, in the United Kingdom, the US and in Germany conservative administrations had taken the reign, and meanwhile the globalization of markets had begun to unfold at breathtaking speed. Yet, the Berlin Wall was still standing - just about.The new introduction offers reflections - and invites feedback - on the past, the future and the present of the 1986 project as seen from today\u27s perspective. In this new introduction, the two original conference conveners, David Trubek and Christian Joerges, are joined by Peer Zumbansen. The permission to prepare the original, not updated materials for online publication with the German Law Journal was generously granted by Nomos. The editorial responsibility for getting the issue into shape lay in the able hands of the GLJ Student Editorial Board at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and to all of these hardworking students go our sincerest thanks. We are also grateful to our authors, who stood by to answer all arising questions in the process of preparing this Symposium Issue