Law and Development—IPEC 4296-502

Class # 88489

Murray J Leaf

UT Dallas, Spring 2018

Syllabus last updated 9 Aug 2018

Office: GR 3.128     

Office Tel: 2732

Classroom: CB3 1.302

email: mjleaf@utdallas.edu

Skype name: murray2508

Time: W 7-9:45   

Office Hours: by appointment.   I can also stay after class.

I have previously offered this course only at the graduate level. It should be within reach of an upper-level undergraduate as well. We will start, and if the material is too difficult we can make adjustments.

Scholars, politicians, administrators, and the educated public in general increasingly recognize that long-term societal development must come from within a country or region.  It must be "organic."   Organic growth, in turn, depends on establishing an effective, responsible, government, rule of law, and effective economic regulation. Moreover, this legal regime cannot be merely national; it must be international. This course reviews the experiences that lie behind this realization, the issues and organizations it involves, and the steps being taken to implement it at international and national levels.

 

Since the world situation is changing very rapidly, so can the readings.  I also expect to adjust the topics to reflect the interests and backgrounds of those who register. 

 

It is now widely recognized in professional development circles that development is not primarily an economic matter and cannot be brought about simply by economic policies and actions.  It cannot be created simply by the transfer of funds (no one but economists ever believed this anyway.)  It cannot be created simply by introducing new technologies.   It is primarily a matter of institution building, and institution building both involves law and requires law.  But law is a large and complex subject, so we have to ask what law, in what order, and by what means?  These questions are the concern of this course. The recordings are from the last time the course was offered.  I will leave them up for reference until we come to that topic, then replace them.  Grading will depend on reports in class (30%) and a substantial paper, at least 20 pages (70%). Since a main purpose of the course is to let students explore whether they want to pursue research in this area, the most likely format for the paper is as a research proposal.

Course Format:

 

 The course will be conducted seminar style. Each student will give presentations of on the readings. The presentations should be professional analyses, in the sense that you should not just repeat what is there but analyze it as a factual argument and criticize it.   The point of view for criticism should first of all be whether it is (or seems to be) factually correct, and then whether it is liable to be beneficial.   Why or why not?

 

 Grading:

Grading will depend on reports in class (30%), at least 20 pages (70%).  If so many people enroll that each person can only do one or two presentations, the grading basis will switch to 20% for the presentations, 30% for an in-class exam late in the term, and 50% for the paper. 

 Recordings:

I will try to remember to record our meetings.  Recordings are .mp3 files.  To download them, right click here. You should then see an option to "download linked file".  Click on it. When the file is downloaded, add the .mp3 (dot m p 3) to the end of the name. It should then play automatically with a media player like Windows Media Player if you click to open it.

 

Topics and Readings:

The listing below is not week by week but topic by topic; we will move at whatever pace we can without getting swamped by the material. We may not cover all the topics; and we might add topics in place of those listed.  I will update the syllabus to reflect changes we agree on as we proceed.

 

Books to Buy

Required:

Morris, Clarence. The Great Legal Philosophers. Pittsburg: U of Pittsburg Press.

 

Recommended:

 Lauren, Paul Gordon. 2003. The Evolution of International Human Rights. Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania Press. (This is a truly excellent treatment of the topic.)

 

Topics 

1.  Introduction.

To prepare for our first meeting, look over the websites in unit 5 below, and also the selections in Morris, The Great Legal Philosophers.  We will discuss them and see if we can agree on a set of priorities for the semester, based on what you already know and what seems most interesting to the group. 

Read: Carothers, Thomas. 1998.  “The Rule of Law Revival.” JSTOR (13 p.)

 

 

2. Legal Philosophy

This unit will take three or four weeks, depending in part on class interest and understanding.   It is fundamental legal theory--the most important views of what law is and what law does.  The readings are in C. Morris. The Great Legal Philosophers. We will probably read the selections from Grotius, Montesquieu, Savigny, Ihering; Austin, Ehrlich, Cardozo, and Pound.   But look at everything.  If something else strikes you, we can add it.

 

Morris compresses the writing by cutting out what seems to be purely legal digressions, or unnecessary reflections.  He does an excellent job of cutting to the main points.   Sometimes, however, this makes the argument a bit too condensed for readers who don't know the historical or philosophical background.  Dip into a few.  If we need to use them, in many cases the original texts are now also available on the web.

 

Possible presentations:

 

Grotius--

Hobbes--

Montesquieu--

Rousseau--

Kant--

Savigny--

Hegel--

von Ihering--

Holmes--

Ehrlich--

Cardozo--

Pound--

Dewey--

 

3. General Idea of Rule of Law

Good overview of what “rule of law’ involves: The Rule of Law Revival. Corruthers.  JSTOR

 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL UNIFICATION OF PRIVATE LAW. ABA. 1963. JSTOR


Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues Author(s): Pranab Bardhan. 2012. JSTOR

The Long War against Corruption
Author(s): Heineman and Heimann. 2006 JSTOR


B. Black and A Tarassova. 2003.  Institutional Reform in Transition: A Case Study of Russia. Supreme Court Economic Review. JSTOR.

Rule of Law and Lawyers in Latin America
2006  Pérez-Perdomo
JSTOR

Struggling for the Rule of Law: The Pakistani Lawyers' Movement
2009  Daud Munir
JSTOR

 

4. Establishing Sustainable Constitutions

The US readings for this topic were Cardozo, Dewey, and Pound, in the previous section. Other relevant readings are Montesquieu and Ehrlich

 

The constitution establishes the general system of government.  Implicitly or explicitly, it also establishes the relationship between the government in a strict sense and the courts, and the government's role in law making and law-finding.  This is crucial.

 

I assume you have read the US constitution, but in case you have not here is a good online text in a site with lots of background information: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Preamble

Japan after WWII:

The Japanese Parliament’s account of the development of the present constitution of Japan: http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/

Now:

According to Justice Ginsberg and others, one of the best constitutions available to today is that of South Africa.   Two relevant documents, in Box.com, are:

 SA Freedom Charter.docx

The Constitution of South Africa (1996).pdf

Libya

A good example of a country struggling to end civil war and find constitution for the future is Libya. They have established a constitutional committee, but the fighting continues. Three documents in Box.com:

LibyaDraftingComm copy.pdf

LibyanInteremConstDraft.pdf

CONSIDERATIONS FOR A CONSTITUTION OF LIBYA MJL.docx

Al Jazeera article on Libyan constitutional committee.

UN:

UN article on creating democratic constitutions, in Box.com:  UNArticleoonConstitutions.pdf

Also a template: TheConstitutionTemplate - nationsof1 - Template for The Constitution of a Nation of 1. The variables.html

 

For another contrast look at the Constitution of India. You won’t be able to read the whole thing or understand it.  Nobody can.  But get a sense of why. Look especially at the treatment of the powers of the President to invoke President’s Rule, Fundamental Rights in Part III, paying special attention to Article 31, the powers of the Parliament to amend the constitution, and the Ninth Schedule. http://lawmin.nic.in/coi.htm

USSR

For a constitution that did not establish democracy or rule of law, here is the 1939 constitution of the Soviet Union: http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1936toc.html

USAID STRATEGY on Democracy and Human Rights.  This is the USAID view; it is very different from the WB: USAID DRG_ final final 6-24 3 (1).pdf.  Box.com; should also be googleable.

 

5. Law and economic systems

Schmitthoff article:  The Origin of the Joint-Stock Company Author(s): M. Schmitthoff Source: The University of Toronto Law Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1939), pp. 74-96 Published by: University of Toronto Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/824598

Laski article in JSTOR http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.utdallas.edu/stable/pdfplus/1326990.pdf   

 

The link to the McInerny article on the IDLO website: http://www.idlo.org/Publications/26.pdf  

 Letter from J. M. Keynes to Franklin Delano Roosevelt on economic policies of the New Deal, in Box.com. This is not really about constitutions but about economic regulation in a pluralistic democracy, which has had many important implications for governmental organizations.

6. Critiques of WB, neoliberalism:

World Bank, Governance Reforms and Democracy in Argentina. Tuozzo. 2004. JSTOR


Neoliberal Law: Unintended Consequences of Market-Friendly Law Reforms. Glinavos
JSTOR

World Bank on Governance: A Critique. Guhan JSTOR


Democratizing the World Bank
Author(s): Joseph E. Stiglitz and Kenta Tsuda


 

 7.  Transitions from Authoritarian to Pluralist Regimes

 

Joireman, Sandra.  Inherited Legal Systems and Effective Rule of Law: Africa and the Colonial Legacy. In JSTOR.   

 

Bohannan, Laura. 1952. A Genealogical Charter. Africa.  JSTOR. 

After the Big Bang? Obstacles to the Emergence of the Rule of Law in Post-Communist Societies. Hoff and Steiglitz  JSTOR

Wikipedia article on Economic History of the Russian Federation looks good.

 

Can Indigenous Justice Survive? :  Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law. DAVID PIMENTEL
JSTOR

Grant, E. 2006. Human Rights, Cultural Diversity, and Customary Law in South Africa . JSTOR.

 

8. Land Reform

 Swinnen, J and Scott Rozelle. 2004. Success and Failure of Reform: Insights from the transition of Agriculture. Journal of Economic Literature. JSTOR.      

Ruben, R. and Z Lerhman. 2005. Why Nicaraguan Peasants Stay in Agricultural Production Cooperatives. Revista Europea.... JSTOR.    

 

Leaf, M. 1983 “The Green Revolution and Cultural Change in a Panjab Village, 1965 ‑ 1978.” Economic Development and Cultural Change. 31:2:227‑­270. (This includes a discussion of the relation between land reform and technological change.)  JSTOR        

"Peasant Logic, Agrarian Policy, Land Mobility, and Land Markets in Mexico," by Roberto Diego Quintana, Luciano Concheiro Bórquez, and Ricardo Pérez Aviles.  PDF but it cannot be copied or saved without a password.  Recommended but not assigned.

This is a related but more recent article in JSTOR:  Twenty-Seven: A Case Study in Ejido Privatization in Mexico
Author(s): David Yetman and Alberto Búrquez. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3631677 .

Evaluating Mexican Land Reform
Author(s): R. S. Weckstein.1970. JSTOR.   

 

Other sources:

Radical views: http://www.progress.org/land/

Short ODI paper on land reform: http://www.odi.org.uk/NRP/nrp6.html

Council on Foreign Relations website on land reform:

http://www.cfr.org/publication/9475/land_reform_revisited.html

 Manchester University Peasant transformation site (with a lot of information on Mexico):

http://les.man.ac.uk/multimedia/Default.htm

American website (Arizona law firm) on Mexican land law (looks good):

http://www.mexicolaw.com/LawInfo02.htm

FAO review of contemporary land reform measures.

 

(Wisconsin Land Tenure Center land reform in Mexico review: http://www.ies.wisc.edu/ltc/wp21.html ) This is “Peasant Logic, Agrarian Policy etc. listed above.  It no longer can be found at this link, but you can get it by googling the entire entry. Unfortunately, however, I cannot find a way to save or copy it.

 

9. Human Rights and Access to Law for the Poor (and others)

Article on Human Rights for the Poor: And Justice for All: Enforcing Human Rights for the World's Poor. Haugen and Boutros. JSTOR


A major World Bank scandal revolves around the Narmada project, in northern India. This cost-benefit ratio was 1 to 1, and it displaced thousands of people.  There are several good videos on YouTube.

Here is an Article on making one of the documentaries on it: Dam/Age. Aradhana Set. Icarus films. There is also a YouTube video of the same title..

Article in The Hindu on the dam. This is a major Indian paper.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/04/17/stories/2006041715801500.htm   

 

Another case study: Chentikheda, Madhya Pradesh, India

YouTube documentary on displacement of villages for building a dam in in Sherpur Dist, Madhya Pradesh, on the Kwari River.  Kwari flows into the Chambal which flows into the Jamuna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYY8VROan-w&feature=youtu.be

This is a summary of the project plan for the project the video is talking about, in Box.com: ChentiKhedaDamMP.pdf

Google Earth Coordinates for the project site: 25^o 58' 3.5" N and 77^o 17' 2.15" E   At this point, there is a slight narrowing of the valley. The dam sounds like it will cross from hills to hills, so everyone in the valley will be displaced.

Website for International Network on Displacement and Resettlement that is concerned with this kind of problem: http://www.forcedmigration.org/organisations/international-network-on-displacement-and

And this is a report from a volunteer group concerned with the plight of people like the adivasis of the the Chentikheda region in general, also in Box.com and on the web: ChentiKedaetcReport.pdf

 

10. Enforcement in the international context.

The Charter of the UN. Chapter III defines the Organs, which include the Security Council. Chapter V describes the Security Council. Chapters VI and VII, dealing with disputes and breaches of peace, describe its powers.

http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/     Focus on why the Security Council is constructed as it is and has the powers it does.         

 

International court of justice  http://www.icj-cij.org/                   

    Preparation: Milosovic in the Hague. Foreign Affairs.  Gary Bass JSTOR

 

The Adverse Consequences of Economic Sanctions on the Enjoyment of Human Rights.  This is a review of sanctions with three case studies by the Global Policy Forum. 

GPF is an NGO recognized by the UN, both watchdog and supporter. 

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/unreports/bossuyt.htm              

 

Last day:

 

Example 1 South Africa: 1) Nelson Mandela International Day, July 18 For freedom, justice and democracy

2) US Dept. of State The end of Apartheid. 3) Cole and McMorran South Africa: United States Economic Sanctions and the Impact on Apartheid . 

Example 2 Syria: 1) UN NEWS CENTRE:  As US responds militarily to chemical attack, UN urges restraint to avoid escalation.  2) Russia blocks Security Council action on reported use of chemical weapons in Syriaís Khan Shaykhun   

 

Reflections on the Sanctions Decade and Beyond.  Margaret Doxey. International Journal. JSTOR

 

The Relative Universility of Human Rights. Jack Donnelly. Human Rights Quarterly. JSTOR

 

Other information of interest:

UN Security Council Resolutions on Iraq (archive of anti-sanctions group). http://www.casi.org.uk/info/scriraq.html

Chronology of sanctions on Libya:

http://www.iie.com/research/topics/sanctions/libya.cfm     In class we assigned this to Steve, but he is overloaded and wants to do what he had been  unable to present last week. Here is a link to his paper.  Read it in advance so we can discuss it.  Here is a link to the book at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/y42fn9p

 

Interpol.  This is the offical website. The Wikipedia article on interpol is good.

OTHER POSSIBLE TOPICS:

WTO  

 

WTO website:  http://www.wto.org/

Public Citizen.org. Opposition to WTO (one of many)

http://www.citizen.org/trade/wto/

Another: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Seattle.asp

 

US Government site on WTO

http://usinfo.state.gov/ei/economic_issues/WTO.html

 

U of ChicagoLibrary site on WTO

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/wto.html

 WTO & Human Rights: Examining Linkages and Suggesting Convergence. Zagel. IDLO paper in Box.com

.

Taxation (not covered)

This looks good:  http://www.ids.ac.uk/project/international-centre-for-tax-and-development
Also this:  http://faculty.law.wayne.edu/tad/index.html

 

Assistance to develop rule of law and human rights: (not covered)

USAID’s Democracy, Human Rights and Good Governance (DRG) strategy: http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/democracy-human-rights-and-governance

  —assess the program from the point of view of what we have considered in the course.

 

World Justice Project interactive page with results of their survey of rule of law by country: http://data.worldjusticeproject.org

 

Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal.

http://islandia.law.yale.edu/yhrdlj/

 

Other sources on the web:

 

American Society of International law, including online resource guide.

http://www.asil.org/resource/Home.htm

 

International Water Law Project

http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org./

 

World Bank Law Resource Center

http://www.icj-cij.org/

 

Land related publications of WB at Law Resource Center:

http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce/catalog/simple-search?has_results_p=1&search_type_to_pass=title&search_text=land

 

Google the International Development Law Association. Look at the self-description and look at its training programs.   The url is:   http://www.idlo.int/ENGLISH/WHOWEARE/Pages/Home.aspx

 

Center for International Sustainable Development  http://www.cisdl.org

Look at the research topics.

 

 International Law Institute. http://www.ili.org/  Look at logo and the centers of expertise.

 

The United Nations and the development of international law (this site focuses on international civil and criminal law, but it has a pull down menu for other UN law websites). http://www.un.org/law/1990-1999/

 

In our library website, look at Westlaw. Use the search facility, and look for topics in international law and development law, such as human rights or war crimes.  Note that it includes European law reviews.

 

U of Cal Berkely Law School international law page. http://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions/courses/international.html

Note the topics.

 

Google: International Institute of Humanitarian Law. Click on Protection of Human Beings…Read the Welcome Message. 

 

Course & Instructor Policies

Since the exams will be take home, I cannot think of any possible reason to fail to hand them in on time. 

There are no “extra credit” arrangements or make-ups.   

 

No Field Trips

Standard UTD policies are procedures for all classes are on the U T Dallas website at: http://coursebook.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies/.
________________________________________________________________________

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.