International Development

This book challenges the current approaches to law and development, arguing that development is the means to achieve global human well-being, and that law can be used to affect that development. It argues that developmentism legitimizes the homogenization of the political, economic, and social spheres and provides normative objectivity to international law. However, it overlooks the violence of developmentalism's transformational project.

Format: Hardback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 01 October 2020
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book challenges current approaches to law and development, arguing that they rely on two premises: first, that development is the means by which global human well-being is to be achieved; and second, that law, both domestic and international, can be used to affect that development. Instead of asking how law may affect development, the book questions how development discourse sustains (international) law itself. It argues that what is at stake in the idea of 'development' is the legitimization of an increasingly forceful homogenization of the political, economic, and social spheres. Developmentalism is further claimed to provide normative 'objectivity' to the foundational assumptions of international law, including human rights, trade, and international financial law. However, the book emphasizes that as law becomes both a normative and an instrumental discourse, it overlooks the violence of developmentalism's transformational project.

The book explores the ways in which development discourse is used to justify and normalize the coercive imposition of economic, political, and social changes on developing countries. It argues that development is often portrayed as a solution to global problems, such as poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation, but in reality, it is often used as a tool for the expansion of corporate interests and the consolidation of power by Western governments and international institutions.

The book also examines the ways in which development projects are implemented in developing countries, often with devastating consequences for local communities and the environment. It highlights the coercive nature of development interventions, such as land grabs, resource extraction, and forced displacement, and the ways in which they undermine local sovereignty and self-determination.

The book concludes by arguing that the idea of 'development' is fundamentally flawed and that it perpetuates a system of inequality and oppression that benefits a small elite at the expense of the majority of the world's population. It calls for a more critical and nuanced approach to development that recognizes the diverse needs and interests of local communities and that prioritizes sustainable, equitable, and democratic development.

Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780415432900