Abstract The rule of law is frequently claimed to be an important factor – if not a necessary element – for advancing international development. Among the development goals conformity with the rule of law has been thought to advance are economic growth, legal compliance, and respect for human dignity. Yet, as many commentators have observed, any attempt to draw straightforward conclusions about the relationship between the rule of law and these aims will inevitably be frustrated by the fact that there exist a number of very different understandings of what conformity to the rule of law consists in. In this paper, I draw attention to the distinction between competing “thin” and “thick” conceptions of the rule of law. Understandably, the thin conception’s relevance for advancing development aims has often been overlooked in favor of the thick conception’s. Nevertheless, I offer here a decision-theoretic analysis of the thin conception’s relationship to growth, compliance, and respect for dignity that justifies special focus on its significance for these areas. Specifically, I argue that, all things being equal, members of a state which violates the thin conception will have less incentive to engage in pro-growth conduct and/or more incentive to engage in anti-growth conduct, less incentive to comply with the law and/or more incentive to not comply, and will have less incentive to perform actions that will yield them greater utility and/or more incentive to perform actions that will yield them lower utility. In turn, this analysis predicts a negative relationship between violations of the thin conception and economic growth, legal compliance, and the amount of utility members of the state’s decisions will yield them.

Abstract For decades, scholars in law and development have studied interactions and dynamics among institutions, legal rules, and development. However, a comprehensive analytical framework in law and development, one which assesses the impact of law, legal frameworks, and institutions (LFIs) on economic development in key areas, is yet to be developed. This is partly because existing law and development study has focused on the manner in which international aid organizations, such as the World Bank, have provided support in relation to law and development, the agendas that they have pursued, and the issues that have been created, while relatively less attention has been given to the needs of developing countries to develop appropriate legal rules and institutions with due consideration to the local conditions which may not make direct “transplants” workable. To address the need, two preliminary but important tasks must be performed: one is to identify the “key areas” subject to state regulation that are directly relevant to economic development. The other is to develop proper methodology to assess the impact of LFIs on economic development. This article recounts the evolution of law and development studies for the past four decades, examines the necessity and feasibility of developing the Analytical Law and Development Model, or “ADM,” and considers relevant methodology issues. This article serves as a foundational work for the development of the ADM.

Abstract We propose a theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of the rule of law state, which is conceived as the equilibrium of a societal game in which actors accept the legitimacy of publicly enunciated legal rules. A meta-norm of respect for the sovereign legal power of the state is not self-forming on the basis of private conduct, but requires the coevolution of impersonal market exchange with effective state capacity to constitute and regulate markets. A functioning legal system must acquire the means not just to control private power but to constrain other organs of government. The emergence of such a ‘self-limiting state’ is an historical process which, while complementary to a market order, is also contingent and path-dependent, and is not preordained. Illustrating our argument with empirical evidence drawn from the contemporary experience of middle-income countries, with a focus on China, we argue that alternatives to the rule of law state, including interpersonal trust, closed networks and authoritarian political control, can only achieve limited scale and scope effects, and are prone to high deadweight costs arising from corruption and the capture of the public sphere by private interests. We also discuss the potential of transplants of legal rules and institutions to catalyse the transition to impersonal trade based on the rule of law, and present evidence, from time-series econometric analysis, that the diffusion of shareholder protection laws has the potential to support financial development in emerging markets. Evolution towards the rule of law state is, we conclude, one possible developmental path for middle-income countries.

This paper discusses Cambodia’s legal framework relating to Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) and looks at the implementation gaps. It argues that despite Cambodian’s legal framework governing land and ELCs being well-developed, its social benefits, such as protecting the rights of the poor and vulnerable and contributing to transparency and accountability, are almost non-existent. Recent evidence suggests that the Government’s handling of natural resources is a far cry from its official land policy which is “to administer, manage, use and distribute land in an equitable, transparent, efficient, and sustainable manner”. This paper argues that this is due to (1) a large gap between the country’s legal framework and the implementation of the country’s land concession policies and (2) a complete disregard of the country’s customary land rights. Widespread corruption and nepotism encourages growing inequality in land ownership and a significant power imbalance between small groups of powerful, politically and economically well-connected elites and poor and vulnerable people in Cambodia. This is exacerbated by the lack of implementation of appropriate regulations. This elite exercises control over the judiciary and has created a climate of impunity, thus hindering the overall implementation of the legal framework and serving their own interests. The paper further looks into recent Government actions such as the moratorium on ELCs and a new land titling initiative to re-allocate ELC area and forestland to the rural poor and assesses whether these actions have the potential to reverse or perpetuate the current inequality in land holdings.