Legal Pluralism and Development

by Tamanaha, Brian Z.; Sage, Caroline; Woolcock, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781107019409
• ISBN10: 1107019400
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-28
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Previous efforts at legal development have focused almost exclusively on state legal systems, many of which have shown little improvement over time. Recently, organizations engaged in legal development activities have begun to pay greater attention to the implications of local, informal, indigenous, religious, and village courts or tribunals, which often are more efficacious than state legal institutions, especially in rural communities. Legal pluralism is the term applied to these situations because these institutions exist alongside official state legal systems, usually in a complex or uncertain relationship. Although academics, especially legal anthropologists and sociologists, have discussed legal pluralism for decades, their work has not been consulted in the development context. Similarly, academics have failed to benefit from the insights of development practitioners. This book brings together, in a single volume, contributions from academics and practitioners to explore the implications of legal pluralism for legal development. All of the practitioners have extensive experience in development projects, the academics come from a variety of backgrounds, and most have written extensively on legal pluralism and on development.

Table of Contents

Origins and Contours

Historical perspectives on legal pluralism

The rule of law and legal pluralism in development

Bendable rules: the development implications of human rights pluralism

Legal pluralism and legal culture: mapping the terrain Sally

Towards equity in development when the law is not the law: reflections on legal pluralism in practice

Theoretical Foundations and Conceptual Debates

Sustainable diversity in law

Legal pluralism 101

The development 'problem' of legal pluralism: an analysis and steps towards solutions

Institutional hybrids and the rule of law as a regulatory project

Some implications of the application of legal pluralism to development practice

From Theory to Practice

Legal pluralism and international development agencies: state building or legal reform

Access to property and citizenship: marginalization in a context of legal pluralism

The publicity 'defect' of customary law

Unearthing pluralism: mining, multilaterals and the state

The problem with problematizing legal pluralism: lessons from the field

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