The research project on the "Law and the New Developmental State (LANDS)" was launched by Professor David Trubek in 2007 with support from the Global Legal Studies Center, Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) and the UW Law School. This project explores the changing role of the state in development today and the implications of such changes for the use of law and regulation as tools for economic and social policy. It rests on the premise that developing nations are exploring new ways that the state can and should promote both growth and equity and that these efforts must go beyond the policies recommended by the “augmented Washington Consensus.” The initial focus of the research is Latin America, in particular Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. The current phase of the project forms part of the WAGE research collaborative on Governance in Economic Development: Law, Politics and the Role of the State (Remaking the Developmental State).
A pilot study conducted in Brazil suggests that, in response to major setbacks in the transition to a market economy during the 1990s, Brazil, along with other governments in the region, is exploring new development policies and experimenting with new modes of governance and regulation. In a LANDS working paper entitled Developmental States and the Legal Order: Towards a New Political Economy of Development and Law, David Trubek suggests that a new developmental state model may be emerging, one which would be different from both the 1960s state-centric Import Substitution Industrialization model and from the neo-liberal ideal of minimal state intervention. Through a series of case studies in different countries dealing with selected development initiatives, the project will seek to identify some of these policy changes, assess the governance regimes they entail, and explore the potential role of law in these developments. Studies will include research on how law affects and is affected in the following areas of potential innovation in policy and governance: finance, including domestic finance and foreign direct investment in Argentina and Brazil; social policy in Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela, and international trade policy in Mexico and Brazil.
The project will help map the contours of the “new” developmental state, bring to light associated legal practices, find out what works and what doesn’t, and communicate “best practices” to a broad audience of legal scholars, social scientists and policy makers in the region and elsewhere. At a time of global economic turbulence the case studies will contribute to discussions among academics, economic actors and policy makers about the nature and governance of economic policy, the governance of development, the importance of institutions, and the role of legal ideas, institutions, and practices. It will help us map the emergence of new models and provide the basis for more comprehensive studies.
Participants
Current participants in the LANDS project include:
- Professor David Trubek (UW Law School)(Principal Investigator)
- Professor John Ohnesorge (UW Law School)
- Professor Helena Alviar
Garcia (Universidad
Los Andes, Bogota)
- Paulo Mattos (FGV - Getulio Vargas Foundation and CEBRAP - Center for Brazilian Analysis and Planning)
- Professor Diogo R. Coutinho (USP--University of São Paulo and CEBRAP)
- Shunko Rojas (Harvard Law School)
- Professor Alvaro Santos (Georgetown Law School)
- Professor Manuel Gomez (Florida International University)
- Professor Michelle Ratton-Sanchez (FGV -
Getulio Vargas Foundation, Sao Paulo & CEBRAP)
- Professor Mario Schapiro (FGV - Getulio Vargas
Foundation, Sao Paulo)
LANDS project has also consulted several scholars in formulating the project: Professor David Kennedy (Harvard University), Professor Barbara Stallings (Brown University), and Professor Hani Sayed (American University in Cairo)
LANDS will seek to add additional participants and develop institutional ties with research centers in the Global North and South. The long term goal is for LANDS to be a collaborative research network of scholars around the world.
Sponsors
The Project is sponsored by the Global Legal Studies Center
(GLS), Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE), the
East Asian Legal Studies Center (EALSC), University of Wisconsin
Law School, and the Center for Brazilian Analysis and Planning
(CEBRAP). Other sponsors will be added as the Network is
consolidated.
Research Papers
David Trubek, Law
and Development in the 21st Century (2009)
Activities
The PI has held several consultations with the project team and
has planned several activities. The main event of the LANDS
project in 2008 was the Workshop on the New Developmental State
which was held in Madison on November 7-8, 2008.
LANDS workshop, November 7-8, 2008
LANDS meeting, November 6-7, 2009