Legal experiments for development in latin america: modernization, revolution and social justice

In: Routledge studies in Latin American development

Abstract

"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 property; labor; transitional justice; social policy; and resource and power distribution in terms of gender. In doing so, the book adds complexity and color by introducing the themes with metaphors from the arts (literature, paintings, architecture, cinema). 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"--