Law and Development: Gender and Land Reform in International
Perspective
A Workshop sponsored by the Modern Law Review
School of Law, Keele University
Monday 16th (2-6pm) and Tuesday (9am-5.30pm)
17th January 2006
In recent years, there has been a revival of interest
in the role of law in development. Although an instrumentalist
view of law fell out of favour in the mid-1970s, economic
and political neo-liberalism have now provided the necessary
conditions for this revival. Land law reform plays a central
role in the new law and development. International financial
institutions such as the World Bank, international donors
such as the British Department for International Development,
third world governments, non-governmental organisations,
and the judiciary have all participated in debates about
the direction and purpose of land reform.
The workshop aims to provide an opportunity to reflect
on this revival and, within this broad field, to explore
the struggle for women's land rights. Bringing together
international scholars from a range of disciplines including
law, economics, politics and development studies, the
workshop will address the following five themes: theorising
the revival of law and development and the place of land
law reform within it; identifying actors in the land reform
process including international financial institutions,
governments and judiciaries; legal pluralism and the relationship
between customary, religious and state laws; the rise
of social movements, landlessness and the law; and addressing
gender in land administration systems.
More information on this event is available on the Keele
law school website
For further details, please contact Ambreena Manji a.manji@law.keele.ac.uk.