Transnational Law and Development as a Means to Reshape States and Rights
| Published date | 01 November 2020 |
| Author | JOHANNA DEL PILAR CORTÉS‐NIETO |
| Date | 01 November 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12264 |
Transnational Law and Development as a Means
to Reshape States and Rights
JOHANNA DEL PILAR CORTÉS-NIETO∗
CONCESSIONAIRES, FINANCIERS AND COMMUNITIES:
IMPLEMENTING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS TO LAND IN
TRANSNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS by KINNARI I. BHATT
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, 222 pp., £85.00)
TRANSNATIONAL LAW AND STATE TRANSFORMATION: THE CASE OF
EXTRACTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MONGOLIA by JENNIFER LANDER
(London: Routledge, 2020, 284 pp., £115.00)
In a pair of new books, Kinnari Bhatt and Jennifer Lander offer an analysis of
how transnational economic forces intersect with development initiatives and
catalyse legal and political changes within nation states. Through case studies,
they unpack the governance logics, strategies, and mechanisms involved in
these processes. Risk management – in the name of stability and predictability
for investors – emerges as the main governing logic, while the means deployed
vary from contracts and debt instruments, to state law, public policy, and
participatory processes. The plurality of governance mechanisms illustrates
how hard and soft forms of power intertwine in bringing about neoliberal
globalization from inside nation states. While most emphasis is placed on
the processes through which transnational economic actors reorder national
systems, Bhatt and Lander assess the resulting arrangements in terms of
rights, democracy,and separation of powers. Their investigations shed light on
how the imperatives of competitiveness, stability, and predictability prioritize
∗Faculty of Law, Universidad del Rosario, Calle 12C No. 6–25, Bogotá,
Colombia
johanna.cortes@urosario.edu.co
[Correction added on 12 February 2021 after first online publication: The author affiliation
has been updated in this version.]
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© 2020 The Author. Journal of Law and Society © 2020 Cardiff UniversityLaw School
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