LGD 2001 (2) - Editorial
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Editorial
Manish Narayan
BA, LLB (Hons), LLM (Warwick) (Hons),
Production Editor, LGD
University of Warwick
Law in India
m.narayan@warwick.ac.uk
We welcome reader to the final issue of Law, Social Justice and Global Development (LGD) for 2001. This issue has a diverse range of papers covering issues such as constitutionalism and human rights, crimes of silence, policy formulations of development agencies and the present war on terrorism to name a few.
As usual this issue contains a diversity of materials including peer reviewed articles, commentaries, book reviews, conference reports and documentation.
It is however for the first time that we are including certain commentaries under the open forum on Terrorisms, Social Justice and the Rule of Law. Recent tragic events have a tendency to destabilise our notions of war, justice and legality. This calls for the widest critical and intellectual analsysis. We are delighted to have two distinguished scholars opening this discussion. Peter Fitzpatrickis a leading authority on legality and modernism, Upen Baxiis prominent in rearticulation of human rights from the perspective of the voices of suffering. Readers are invited to submit their comments and views to the editors for publication on the journal. Please send your comments to Manish Narayan.
There is a wealth of articles from a wide spectrum of contributors.
Mauro Zambonievaluates, from a policy of law perspective, how Swedish development assistance organisations try to 'export,' specifically to developing countries, the legal model of Rechtsstaat. The focus here in particular is the use by such organisations of the concept of Rechtsstaat in their policy documents.
Ben Kunborthrough his article demonstrates how the choices made by the Indian judiciary has yielded some payoffs in advancing the rights of vulnerable segments of the Indian society. It then critically analyses Ghana's Constitution of 1992 and the human rights protected therein.
Arvind Narrainexamines the global discourse on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LBG) rights and how there has been a shift from a silence to an increasing articulation of rights. It also traces the interaction between the global and the local discourses with particular reference to India.
Jayan Nayarengages with the question - how to do law ? – which is crucial to the conceptualisation of an alternative of a 'peoples' law'. Making the Permanent People's Tribunal central to the debate he argues that the question relating to the 'doing of law differently' revolves around the central issue of the politics of 'judgement'. It further explores this relationship between law, judgement and the struggle for the recognition of violation.
Amanda Perrycritically looks at the role that lawyers can play in urban development. She has brings forth the concepts and contexts of lawyering through a case study of law and policy for urban development in Bangalore (India).
Issa Shivjirevisits the life of Comrade Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu who was a leading socialist intellectual from Africa. This article makes an important contribution to the role of universities, knowledge and academic freedom in the African and developing country contexts.
3. Commentaries and Conference Reports
Alex Magaisain his commentary explores the growing networks of global corporation and the ability of victims to sue in a particular jurisdiction. He critically analyses the principle of Forum Non Conveniens under international law with particular reference to the Lubbe Case.
Arvind Narrain et al, on behalf of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF), in their conference report analyse the scope and ambit of alternative lawyering in India. The report also highlights some of the crucial dilemmas of the profession emerging from a third world location, particularly confronted by those who struggle at the margins of the institutional framework. The report candidly outlines the core issues through raising such questions as to whom a socially concerned lawyer accountable - to the professional bodies or to people at large; what options do lawyers have when the issues they are struggling for have only a marginal space in the courts; and, how could lawyers think about 'alternatives' in hostile political and social circumstances.
Sitharamam Kakarala'sreview of Enslaved Daughters highlights that, besides providing an illuminating analysis of the issues of women's rights in late nineteenth century India. The book raises crucial questions related to a larger theoretical issue of inter-linkage between custom-law-justice and the ambivalence within, in the context of colonial modernity.
Sitharamam Kakarala'sreview of Autonomy and Ethnicity suggests that the book provides a valuable new dimension to a pervasive problem of our times. The strength of the book lies, as per the reviewer, both in its self-limiting focus of the issues to make them amenable for meaningful analyses as well as its constructive pragmatism in suggesting scenarios of resolutions.
Tundu Lissuthrough his study closely examines the nature and character of the boom in Tanzania's mining industry. Taking a longer historical perspective, the study locates the boom within the current developments in the global economy and the transformations in the mining industry globally. And in the traditions of the political economy analytical framework, the study seeks to uncover the interests and forces at work behind the boom in global mining and the social and environmental costs associated with it. The study covers Mainland Tanzania and relates to the boom in precious minerals particularly gold and gemstones, which have drawn the greatest interest and the attention from investors, governments and multilateral financial institutions alike.
We hope you enjoy this topical edition of Law, Social Justice and Global Development (LGD) and find it to be interesting and worthy of debate.
We welcome you as readers to participate fully in the journal by contributing to the discussion, and perhaps by being stimulated sufficiently to contribute your own articles and commentaries, whether your are located in the academe or on the coal face or in between. Please see the submissions standardsfor further information on submitting articles.
Contributions and suggestions about the journal should be sent to: Manish Narayan, the Production Editor, at m.narayan@warwick.ac.uk
This Editorial was published on 19 December 2001.
Citation:'Editorial', 2001 (2)Law, Social Justice and Global Development (LGD).
<http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/global/issue/2001-2/editorial.html>. New citation as at 1/1/04: <http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/lgd/2001_2/editorial/>