Legal Experiments For Development In Latin America

This book provides a nuanced picture of how diverse legal debates on the pursuit of economic development and modernization have played out in Latin America since independence. The opposing concepts of modernization theory and Dependency Theory can be seen to be playing out within the field of legal transformation, as some legal analysts define law as a closed, formal, rational system, and others see law as inseparable from economic, social and political change. Legal experiments have followed these trends, in some cases using legal instruments to guarantee classical, civil and political rights, and in others demanding radical transformation of existing legal structures. This book traces these debates across the key topics of: economic development and foreign investment; property; resource and power distribution in terms of gender and social policy. Drawing on a wide range of literature, the book adds complexity and color to our understanding of these themes in Latin America. This insightful exploration of comparative law within Latin America provides the tools needed to understand legal transformation in the region, and as such will be of interest to researchers within law, political sociology, development and Latin American studies.

This book provides a nuanced picture of how diverse legal debates on the pursuit of economic development and modernization have played out in Latin America since independence. The opposing concepts of modernization theory and Dependency Theory can be seen to be playing out within the field of legal transformation, as some legal analysts define law as a closed, formal, rational system, and others see law as inseparable from economic, social and political change. Legal experiments have followed these trends, in some cases using legal instruments to guarantee classical, civil and political rights, and in others demanding radical transformation of existing legal structures. This book traces these debates across the key topics of: economic development and foreign investment; property; resource and power distribution in terms of gender and social policy. Drawing on a wide range of literature, the book adds complexity and color to our understanding of these themes in Latin America. This insightful exploration of comparative law within Latin America provides the tools needed to understand legal transformation in the region, and as such will be of interest to researchers within law, political sociology, development and Latin American studies.

Textbook on law and jurisprudence in Latin America, including an interdisciplinary research analysis of the legal aspects of economic development - covers land reform, commercial law responses to inflation, the role of the courts, etc., includes a case study of legal institutional frameworks in the caracas urban area slums in Venezuela, and provides historical background. References.

This book explores the emergence of a new developmental state in Latin America and its significance for law and development theory.

An essay on the need for a well functioning judiciary system in Latin America.

Encapsulating Law Reform requires the creation of a discreet space occupied with normative self-generation, self-correction, and self-adaptation in the very anatomy of law and the architecture of legal systems. This ‘living dynamic trait’ should be a hallmark of the genetic material in the modern-day institution of law. This edited volume sheds light on Law Reform in its domestic, comparative, regional, and international settings. It examines the process of Law Reform and explains the need for a constant appraisal to keep its wheels optimally operational. The book takes a holistic approach to understanding Law Reform and calls for such an approach in the very process of Law Reform. It begins by looking at Law Reform processes from a theoretical perspective. Thereafter, it sheds light on domestic Law Reform processes in civil and common law legal systems. This is followed by a focus on Law Reform at the international level with a critical appraisal of the International Law Commission (ILC), drawing on its performance in international economic and environmental law. Included in this consideration is also the role played in Law Reform by the IMF, World Trade Organization/World Intellectual Property Organization, Multilateral Development Banks, and the African Union Commission on International Law. This volume should appeal to students, serious scholars, policy makers, judges, and the community of national and international lawyers interested in bringing effective reform in the national and international arenas.

This book explores the emergence of a new developmental state in Latin America and its significance for law and development theory. In Brazil since 2000, emerging forms of state activism, including a new industrial policy and a robust social policy, differ from both classic developmental state and neoliberal approaches. They favor a strong state and a strong market, employ public-private partnerships, seek to reduce inequality, and embrace the global economy. Case studies of state activism and law in Brazil show new roles emerging for legal institutions. They describe how the national development bank uses law in innovation promotion, trade law strengthens new developmental policies in export promotion and public health, and social law frames innovative poverty-relief programs that reduce inequality and stimulate demand. Contrasting Brazilian experience with Colombia and Mexico, the book underscores the unique features of Brazil's trajectory and the importance of this experience for understanding the role of law in development today.

This book provides a fresh interpretation of the rise and fall of Latin America’s ‘left turn’, or movement towards more progressive economic or social policies. From a historical and comparative perspective, the book argues that Latin America is entering a new phase of authoritarian statism. Based on over 10 years of research on Latin American political economy and social movements, including years of fieldwork in Chile, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina, this book combines the stories of individuals and groups in particular situations with the macro-level political and economic trajectory of the region since the postwar period. The book draws on over 100 interviews with community activists, workers, union leaders, politicians, journalists, and NGOs, as well as archival work. In addition, the book uses up-to-date national and regional economic data, including both standard and heterodox development indicators. By engaging with key case studies including Argentina’s recovered enterprises, Chile’s student movement, Brazil’s free transit movement, and Venezuela’s popular economy, this book analyzes the complex relationship between "post-capitalist struggles" and the governance models of the "pink tide", the wave of left governments that began to sweep the region at the turn of the century. This book will be of interest to researchers across politics, development, Latin American studies and social movement studies. The original data and analysis of the relationship between social movements and governments will also benefit policymakers and those working within the NGO sector.