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.