| General Description: |
This course examines the role that formal law, legal principles, and informal norms play in the development of nations. Focus will rest on the ways in which law promotes or hinders positive social change, human flourishing, and economic development. Although we will discuss some public international law issues (such as human rights and trade law), the course will largely focus on legal regimes within nations. Among other issues, we will discuss the legal-origins literature, rule of law and governance concerns, the role of property rights and contract law in development, conflict and development, commercial law and red-tape concerns, as well as markets and trade. The goal will be to develop a richer understanding of the complex role that both de jure and de facto law play in international development. |