Unit information: Law, Globalisation and Economic Development in 2011/12

Unit name	Law, Globalisation and Economic Development
Unit code	LAWDM0099
Credit points	30
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. Morgan
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	none
Co-requisites	none
School/department	University of Bristol Law School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

This unit explores the role of law in economic development, with three particular emphases: the role of rights, the role of regulation and the significance of increasing integration of markets across borders. The first part of the course will introduce LLM students to social science approaches to development (2 seminars). The next three sections: - survey the first and second wave of law and development studies (2 seminars) - examines the judicialisation of politics, the transnational spread of constitutional judicial review, and the potential role of socio-economic rights in trajectories of economic development (3 seminars) - explore the role of 'independent regulators' and of social movements, particularly their relationship to contested ideas of the rule of law and the role of law in social change (2 seminars) The course concludes by locating the ideas located above in relation to international institutions that play a significant role in shaping the relationship between law and economic development specifically in the areas of trade, financial aid and human rights (3 seminars)

Aims:

• To expose students to a range of different approaches to the role of law in economic development within socio-legal literature
• To expose students to two different classic literatures within socio-legal literature (regulation and rights), and provide avenues for linking and comparing them
• To develop the critical tools that allow students to understand how these issues apply in the context of significantly increased integration of transnational markets.
• To develop the capacity to critically analyse specific institutional developments in trade, aid and human rights with reference to the literature above.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Familiarity with a range of different approaches to the role of law in economic development within socio-legal literature

• Understanding of how law, rights and regulation shape the integration of transnational markets in different contexts

• Development by students of empirically specific research interests in these areas and the ability to select the most appropriate theoretical approaches for such research

• The capacity to critically analyse specific institutional developments in trade, aid and human rights with reference to the literature above.

Teaching Information

12 two hour seminars.

Assessment Information

1. 1,000 word essay (formative assessment), due in Week 3 of the course. The essay will require students to juxtapose a legal and a social-scientific article on the role of law in economic development, to give them an opportunity to practice developing the analytical skills necessary for the interdisciplinary approach adopted in the course.
2. 3,000 word essay (33%), due late in the course. The essay will require students to explore in depth a particular approach to the role of law in economic development within socio-legal literature, and to critically analyse a particular facet of how law, rights and regulation shape the integration of transnational markets in different contexts. Students will be encouraged to explore an empirically specific research topic relevant to the institutional developments in trade, aid and human rights explored in the final section of the course. They will then develop their capacity to critically analyse the most appropriate theoretical approaches for this topic.
3. 3 hour written exam (67%). The questions will require students to demonstrate their familiarity with a range of different approaches to the role of law in economic development within socio-legal literature. They will test their understanding of how law, rights and regulation shape the integration of transnational markets in different contexts, and their familiarity with institutional developments in trade, aid and human rights relevant to economic development in a globalising world.

Reading and References

• Perry-Kessaris (ed) , Law in Pursuit of Development, Routledge 2009 forthcoming

• Levy-Faur and Jordana (eds), The Politics of Regulation, (Edward Elgar 2004)

• Braithwaite and Drahos, Global Business Regulation (Cambridge 2003)

• Kanishka Jayasuriya (ed) Law, Capitalism and Power in Asia: The Rule of Law and Legal Institutions (Routledge, 1998)

• Balarkrishnan Rajagopal, International Law from Below: Development, Social Movements and Third World Resistance (Cambridge 2003)

• De Sousa Santos and Cesar Rodriguez (eds) Law and Globalization from Below: Towards a Cosmopolitan Legality, Cambridge University Press 2005