Introduction: Law in Pursuit of Development: Principles into Practice?

Abstract

This chapter is the introduction to a volume which explores three liberal principles which underlie many current efforts to direct law towards the pursuit of development: First, that the private sector has an important role to play in promoting the public interest; second, that widespread participation and accountability are essential to any large scale enterprise; and third, that the rule of law is a fundamental building block of development.

The chapter observes that we who focus on the field of law and development do not always notice how our work fits together, we do not allow ourselves to build upon each others’ work as effectively as we might, we unconsciously block those who concentrate their efforts in other fields from drawing on and contributing to our work, and we spend not insignificant amounts of time reinventing various wheels. The nature of the concerns at the heart of our field - poverty, drought, humiliation, desolation, violence, injustice, death - demand that we do the best we can. Might we not be more effective if we were better organised?

The chapter proposes an ABCDE map of law and development, arguing that the work of academics and practitioners can be classified as Assessment, Building capacity, Contestation, Delegation and Evaluation.

It is concluded that contributions the volume are acts of assessment, building, delegation and evaluation. Perhaps most importantly, they are contestations of values and interests about which difficult, explicit choices must be made when law is directed towards the pursuit of development.

Keywords: Law and Development, Rule of Law

JEL Classification: K00, O00