Blog Library

This Section gives you an overview, in a hurry, about the things we blog about here: Law and Development, Access To Justice and Technology in this field.

This blog library is a consolidation of some of the blog posts into a logical sequence for people to understand the topic of law and development and essentially the use of technology to promote it. It’s divided into different sections that converge from the broader subject down to this specialized niche. We start with looking at the big picture of international development and the role of law in international development (Law in Development- The Big Picture) and move through how it has evolved through the years (Historical Evolution of Law in Development and Access to Justice). Out of this historical evolution you will find that the concept of “legal empowerment of the poor” is the new trend of today (The Rise of the Concept of 'Legal Empowerment of the Poor ' (LEP) ). We note both the criticisms of legal empowerment of the poor (Criticisms of LEP) and as well as this concept as a cool innovation within the field (LEP and Other Cool Innovations in Practice), which is a segway into the concept of technology for development and its budding use in this field (Technology in Law and Development). In conclusion, we explore the future of law and development Future of Law and Development (with Technology involved for sure!).

If you are new to this field, the best way is to read from beginning to the end, and as you do so, click on the links to the related blog posts that are most interesting to you. (If you would like resources outside of this blog, check out the Resources page.)

Law in Development- The Big Picture

Historical Evolution of Law in Development and Access to Justice

The Rise of the Concept of 'Legal Empowerment of the Poor ' (LEP)
  • Practitioners are on board too, although truth be told, many of them were doing the same things before what they did fell under the new term 'LEP':


Criticisms of LEP


LEP and Other Cool Innovations in Practice

(which is a good lead-in  to:) 
Technology in Law and Development 
  • Technology and Development (ICT4D)- with the rise of internet usage, the development community started to experiment with how technology can be used for development. Reactions were mixed and ranged in a spectrum from thinking of technology as a magic bullet that will allow developing counties to 'leapfrog' into development, to the belief that technology was irrelevant for poor people when basic needs are not meet. 
  • Technology and Law- at the same time, there were tech developments within the legal field too
  • Technology in Law and Development: A Convergence of the two fields above, coupled with the LEP movement which calls for more innovation in development. Some examples (more to come- we haven't had time to link from the blog yet!): 


Future of Law and Development (with Technology involved for sure!)


Where can you learn more in less of a hurry?