Review of THE NEW LAW AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL (ed David M. Trubek 2006)

In a previous post, I listed a few recent academic publications on Law and Development. In an email today, I received a link to the Osgoode Hall Law Journal (by Canada's York University's Law School/ Volume 46, Number 3, Fall 2008), and noticed that there was a review on one of those books. It is a great summary of the chapters, and if you want a summary version of the entire book, read this review by Jane Murung, Visiting Researcher CLPE Fellow 2008-2009, Osgoode Hall Law School.

In particular, what I find honest and smart about her review (substance aside), I quote below:

• The potential for obscure terminology (such as the different terms the authors use to describe the Third Moment) is anticipated, and readers are advised beforehand.

• Anyone familiar with the United Nations’ varying attempts through its “Development Decades” to advance growth in developing countries, or the World Bank’s new development agenda would, at the very least, readily agree with the book’s rationale of the“Moments.” The question is whether the book’s claim that the Third Moment is “new” are well-developed and persuasive.

• The (book) convinces the reader that the present view of law is fundamentally different than before—but how depressing 

• The New Law and Economic Development is worth reading. Anyone interested in L&D, regardless of their academic background, should do so. Unlike other books about L&D, which discuss only some areas and require one to read several books to get the entire picture, this book comprehensively discusses all aspects of the field.

• This book is a required foundation for other important books, such as Kenneth W. Dam’s The Law-Growth Nexus: The Rule of Law and Economic Development and Thomas Carother’s Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: In Search of Knowledge. 

New paper offers critique of Legal Empowerment approach

Legal Empowerment: An Impossible Dream? by Hooria Hayat & Khola Ahme

Summary: This paper takes a critical look at the concept of Legal Empowerment, tracing its genesis and differences with the earlier concepts of Rule of Law and Rule of Law Orthodoxy. It then examines the problems emanating from applying Legal Empowerment as a strategy to postcolonial states such as Pakistan and identifies two particular problems: the existence of parallel systems and the imposition of an alien system of law, i.e. the British law, in India. The introduction of English law, its practice and the values that they espoused, although essential to the system they were trying to set in place, were alien and therefore disruptive and robbed the courts that used them of their authority. It argues that the disruption of an evolutionary process in legal developments in India impeded an integrated legal system with legitimacy amongst the people the law is applied to.

Law and Development Review Special Inaugural Issue (2008)

The Special Inaugural Issue (2008) of the Law and Development Review, edited by Yong-Shik Lee (Y.S. Lee), Bhupinder Chimni, and David Trubek, was published in last month by Bepress, the Berkeley Electronic Press. The Law and Development Review is the first journal to address the role and impact of law, both domestic and international, on economic and social development. This journal encourages a global exchange of ideas on this important subject, and lays the foundation of critical law and development studies.

You'll need a subscription to read the articles online, or you can read it for free either at a library that has a subscription, (UPDATED 6/6/2009) or via free guest pass if you are a nonprofit or an academic after filling out a form.

Articles:

• Foreword, The Editors
• The Sen Conception of Development and Contemporary International Law Discourse: Some Parallels, (Bhupinder Chimni)
• Proliferation of Free Trade Agreements and Some Systemic Issues - In Relation to the WTO Disciplines and Development Perspectives (Mitsuo Matsushita and Y.S. Lee)
• Rediscovering the Role of Developing Countries in GATT before the Doha Round (Faizel Ismail)
• The Generalized System of Preferences of the United States: Does It Promote Industrialization and Economic Growth in Least Developed Countries? (Caf Dowlah)
• EU Sanitary Standards and Sub-Saharan African Agricultural Exports: A Case Study of the Livestock Sector in East Africa (Melaku Geboye Desta)
• Who Are the Developing Countries in the WTO? (Fan Cui)

Editors:

• Editor-in-Chief: Yong-Shik Lee (Y.S. Lee), The Law and Development Institute
• Senior Editor: Bhupinder Chimni, Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Mitsuo Matsushita, University of Tokyo Faculty of Law
• Senior Advisor: David Trubek, Wisconsin Law School
• Michael Trebilcock, University of Toronto Law School

First Global Report on Parliaments and their use of ICT

The World e-Parliament Report 2008 represents a first effort to establish a baseline of how parliaments are using, or planning to use ICT to help them fulfill their responsibilities and to connect to their constituencies. The Report (by UNDESA and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, via Global Centre for ICT in Parliament) also provides an opportunity for sharing lessons learned and good practices from different regions of the world.

Below is a my attempted summary of the paper: 

  

• The World e-Parliament Report 2008 is the first assessment from a global perspective of how information and communication technologies (ICT) are being used by parliaments across the array of activities under their mandates.

• Methodology: survey responses of 105 global assemblies, experiences during World e-Parliament Conference 2007 and relevant public information.

• Goals: to help legislatures evaluate the potential benefits of ICT in supporting parliament’s work, and to share knowledge.

• Areas of analysis: 9 substantive areas  

            a) Parliament, ICT and the information society; 

            b) Vision, innovation and leadership; 

            c) Implementation: management, planning and resources;

            d) Infrastructures and services; 

            e) Documenting the legislative process; 

            f) Parliamentary websites; 

            g) Building a knowledge base for parliament; 

            h) Enhancing the dialogue with citizens

            i) Cooperation and coordination.

• Results:
• income level of each country plays a significant role in determining the extent to which ICT are adopted in parliaments. However, technological legacies in older legislative bodies, organizational flexibilities in younger parliaments, and the rapid evolution of technologies are all factors that can help level the playing field among legislatures.

• Attaining a high level of performance in the application of ICT is not only dependent on financial resources; it also requires strong political leadership, active engagement of members, a skilled secretariat, well-trained technical staff, and a sustained commitment to the strategic implementation of information and communication technologies in the legislative setting.

• Approximately 10 per cent of the surveyed parliaments have acquired extensive ICT capabilities across a wide range of key application areas. These include developing document management systems, utilizing open document standards, creating rich websites, and providing access to pending legislation. 

• At the other end of the spectrum, many parliaments lack a strategic plan, an adequate ICT infrastructure, basic tools for members and staff, systems for managing documents and trained ICT staff. The status of the ICT systems and services of those parliaments that fall between these two groups is uneven. Many of them have implemented ICT applications that serve some of their most important functions. But many of these applications appear to be operating at the lowest level of utility and the technologies available are not taken advantage of. 

•  An issue of special importance to parliaments in today’s world is improving dialogue with citizens. Some chambers and parliaments are exploring new approaches using the Web, and others have plans to test new ICT-based systems. However, currently very few legislatures have any systematic capabilities for interactive communication with citizens.

• Conclusion:
•  there is a significant gap between what is possible with ICT and what has actually been accomplished by parliaments thus far. 
• On the other hand, survey responses clearly demonstrate that most parliaments have plans to improve their use of technology to support their goals and their work and that parliaments are acutely aware of the strategic importance of ICT.
•  Narrowing this gap will require increased cooperation and coordination among parliaments, in partnership with other stakeholders, and a worldwide dialogue is becoming increasingly essential. 
• Support for those parliaments with fewer resources is important- such as increasing the opportunities for sharing expertise and software at a global level and providing greater access to parliamentary information resources.

Lessons Learned from Training Developing World in New Media

David Sasaki, from Global Voices will be giving a presentation at Berkman's luncheon series today, on his lessons learned over the last 18 months of training underrepresented communities (mostly in the developing world) on using new media tools to participate in the global conversation. Webcast here.

Announcement:     Most Kenyans spend idle afternoons discussing technology in trendy cafes. Nearly all Venezuelans oppose Chavez. And throughout the Middle East you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who supports sharia law. Or, at least, those would be your impressions of the world as shaped by the ever-expanding global blogosphere. As much as participatory media have democratized how we find out about the world around us, the new global voices tend to come from a narrow demographic: highly educated, urban, and upper-middle class. Rising Voices is a citizen media outreach initiative of Global Voices. Over the past year and a half it has provided micro-funding and training resources to 16 projects in communities in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe which previously had little or no online representation. David Sasaki, Global Voice's director of outreach, will discuss the successes, challenges, and lessons learned over the past 18 months of training under-represented communities how to take advantage of new media tools to participate in the 21st century global conversation.

Wiki on Microjustice by Tilburg Law School's Microjustice Research Program

As part of the ILA's microtice initiative and Tilburg's Law School's Microjustice Research Program I blooged about earlier, Tilburg Law School has also started, since the start of this year, a wiki on microjustice. It seems to encompass microjustice as well as more general access to justice issues. Goals of the wiki include: 'share information, best practices and tools for microjustice', and anyone is welcome to register and contribute.

Tilburg Law School starts a Microjustice Reteach Program

Tilburg Law School, part of Tilburg University located in southern Netherlands, was an early partner to ILA's microjustice initiative through professor J.M. Barendrecht. In fact, the initial concept was presented in a paper co-authored between ILA and the school. I'm taking the liberty of reproducing the school's program on microjustice, from its website, as follows (UPDATED: see also it's various useful microjustice publications as well as the team's contact information): 

The Great Firewall is only one small part of Chinese censorship

It seems that the Great Chinese Firewall is in conversations everywhere these days. I myself posted about my lack of access to this blog every time I visit Beijing. But yet, especially given this report I blogged about last year, that is only a part of the means of control. I'm reminded to remind my readers about this fact after coming across Rebecca Mackinnon's blog post last month, which I really liked because she gave a more personal insight on Chinese censorship than her recent AWSJ article.