LDRN 5th annual conference: 10 days left to submit your abstract / panel proposal!

Proposals and expressions of interest are due on 9 March 2020 for the LDRN 5th annual conference – don’t miss out!

Visit the conference website for more information, and/or to submit your abstract or panel proposal. A limited number of travel stipends are available.

The LDRN 5th Annual Conference – “Challenges for Law and Development: Responses” will be hosted at Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa on 21 – 23 September 2020.

Download the updated call for papers here.

New book and online course on mining and development by Tracy-Lynn Field, University of the Witwatersrand School of Law (Edward Elgar Publishers / edX)

State Governance of Mining, Development and Sustainability (Edward Elgar Publishers, 2019)

States in mineral-rich jurisdictions promote mining as a development industry, and at the same time attempt to protect people and the environment from the worst excesses of extractivism and neo-extractivism. Exploring how the State’s role in facilitating a developmental and sustainable mining industry has been defined, this book provides a world-first global, comparative analysis of the principal narratives framing mining, development and sustainability in developed and developing countries. The book illustrates how these themes are woven into technical governance areas of property, taxation, environmental assessment and mine closure. Ultimately, this book shows how the promotional and protective role of the State constituted by the advocacy, policies and laws of international financial institutions, industry associations, activists, and mineral-rich jurisdictions supports an unsustainable system of global mining production. 

Mining for Development: The Taxation Linkage (online course, edX.org)

Tax revenues are likely to be the core benefit of mineral extraction for host States. To promote mining for development, States must design mineral fiscal regimes that consider the interests of a wide range of stakeholders. Their choices have major implications for public finance, development and sustainability. This course will help policy makers, managers in private sector companies, and activists understand these choices and their implications.

This book and online course were authored by Prof. Tracy-Lynn Field of University of the Witwatersrand School of Law (an LDRN partner institution).

LDRN 5th Annual Conference: dedicated conference website launched

The conference website for the LDRN 5th Annual Conference – “Challenges for Law and Development: Responses” – has been launched at ldrn2020.org.za 

Visit the conference website for more information on conference themes and submission formats, and to submit proposals and expressions of interest by 9 March 2020.

The conference website will also be updated with further details on conference logistics, and will serve as the main point of contact between participants and the local organizing committee.

The LDRN 5th Annual Conference will be hosted at Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa on 21 – 23 September 2020.

Download the call for papers here!

New book publication: Advocating Social Change Through International Law, Daniel Bradlow and David Hunter (eds) (Brill Publishers, 2019)

Advocating Social Change Through International Law, Daniel Bradlow and David Hunter (eds) (Brill Publishers, 2019)

This book explores the use of hard and soft international law in advocating for social change. Using case studies rooted in inter alia human rights, international crimes, environmental protection, public health, and financial regulation, the book focuses on both state and non-state actors’ strategic choices regarding the use of hard and soft international law in advocating for social change. Looking through the social change lens provides new insights into the interplay between soft and hard international law, the perceived costs and benefits associated with hard and soft international law in different contexts, and the factors affecting the effectiveness of hard and soft approaches to international law.

This book was co-edited by Daniel Bradlow of the University of Pretoria Centre for Human Rights (an LDRN partner institution), and was launched at the 4th Annual LDRN Conference at the Humboldt University Law Faculty, Berlin.

Upcoming academic opportunities: March / April deadlines

The following opportunities may be of interest to researchers in the field of law and development:

Vacancies

Iowa Law Faculty fellowship | University of Iowa, USA (deadline: 5 March 2020)

Postdoctoral researcher – Development Processes, Actors and Policies | Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp, Belgium (deadline: 15 March 2020)

Associate professor – socio-legal studies | Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, UK (deadline: 2 April 2020)

Teaching fellow  – Stanford Programme in International Legal Studies | Stanford School of Law, CA, USA (deadline: 15 April 2020)

Research associate – qualitative research on New York bail reform | Vera Institute of Justice, New York, USA / remote (rolling deadline)

Visiting clinical supervisor – immigration law clinic | Brooklyn Law School, NY, USA (rolling deadline)

Conferences and workshops

Law and Digital Society: Re-Imagining the Futures – Conference of the Research Committee for the Sociology of Law | Lund University, Sweden | 24 – 26 August 2020 (deadline: 15 March 2020)

Science for Sustainable Development – Conference of the ACV International Law Institute and the Cambridge University Brazilian Alumni | São Paulo, Brazil | 2 – 3 July 2020 (deadline: 30 March 2020)

The European Convention on Human Rights Turns 70 – Taking Stock, Thinking Forward | Ghent University, Belgium | 18 -20 November 2020 (deadline: 15 April 2020)

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LDRN members are welcome to announce any opportunities (e.g. vacancies, scholarships, calls for papers) by contacting the Editor.

Opportunities are updated throughout the month, so do visit LawDev.org  again, or subscribe to the LDRN newsletter to receive a monthly roundup.

LDRN member publications – January 2020

Philipp Dann, Institutional Law and Development Governance: An Introduction, Law and Development Review, vol. 12, no. 2 (2019), 537 – 560 (open access after registration)
 
Philipp Dann and Michael Riegner, The World Bank’s Environmental and Social Safeguards and the evolution of global order, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 32, no. 3 (2019), 537 – 559 (open access)
 
Markus Kaltenborn, Markus Krajewski & Heike Kuhn (eds), Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights, Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020 (open access)
 
Wouter Vandenhole, Gamze Erdem Türkelli and Sara Lembrechts, Children’s Rights. A Commentary on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Protocols, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK, 2019
 

Jochen von Bernstorff and Philipp Dann (eds), The Battle for International Law: South-North Perspectives on the Decolonization Era, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2019

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LDRN members are welcome to announce their latest publications via this list – please send references and links to the Editor by the final Monday of the month.

Call for papers: LDRN 5th Annual Conference – “Challenges for Law and Development: Responses” | Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa | 21 – 23 September 2020 (abstract deadline: 9 March 2020)

The call for papers is now available for the LDRN 5th Annual Conference – “Challenges for Law and Development: Responses”

The conference will be hosted at Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa on 21 – 23 September 2020.

Download the call for papers here and submit your proposal / expression of interest by 9 March 2020 via the conference website. Further details on conference logistics will also be made available on the conference website.

Sign up for the LDRN newsletter to receive conference announcements and updates!

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Call for Papers: LDRN 5th Annual Conference – “Challenges for Law and Development: Responses”, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 21 – 23 September 2020

The world is confronting immense challenges that place strain on people’s way of life, legal systems and domestic mechanisms of governance. Although these challenges occur worldwide, they often impact most severely on people living in the Global South. They include climate change leading to crippling droughts, floods, bushfires and rising sea levels; sustainability; poverty and inequality; gender-based violence; state-based corruption and poor governance; the confiscation of indigenous lands; conflicts, including over land, the sea and natural resources; the dislocation and isolation of populations consequent upon these phenomena; human mobility; rampant xenophobia and racism; and widespread human rights violations. Untold pressure is placed on domestic institutions responsible inter alia for health care, education, housing, social welfare, and social protection, and concerns are raised about the rule and role of law, governance, and individual well-being. Scholars of law and development are justifiably concerned about these global realities, to be addressed as the Network’s annual conference takes place for the first time in the Global South.

The 5th Annual Conference of the LDRN will explore the meaning, causes and consequences of the challenges identified and seek to identify appropriate responses from legal systems and Law and Development researchers and practitioners. Participants are invited to contribute to two specific tracks.

The first track confronts the conceptual challenges in Law and Development scholarship. Participants are invited to consider how Law and Development can respond to the global challenges to ensure the field’s continuing viability and relevance. Additionally, are there separate southern and northern perspectives on Law and Development? How do we overcome the tension between such perspectives for the benefit of the global good?

The second track of the conference invites participants to consider the more specific global challenges facing Law and Development scholars and practitioners, divided into six sub-streams, as follows:

  • Governance, human rights, and the rule of law – specifically, the protection of the rights to equality and dignity; the advancement of socio-economic rights, mainly in the Global South; the balance between civil, political and social rights; and the impact of poor governance and corruption on development and the rule of law.
  • Environment, the law of the sea and development, sustainable development and climate change – participants are asked to consider the responses required to address the global environmental challenges identified in the call.
  • Land – the protection of land rights; access to land; land reform; land conflicts; and the land rights of indigenous persons in both domestic and international law.
  • Human mobility – participants are encouraged to consider the impact of human mobility on both domestic governance and dislocated peoples and to explore appropriate legal responses.
  • Social protection – recognised in its extensive sense, as an issue of critical concern to societies both in the Global South and North, with participants considering the need for innovative approaches.
  • International economic law and development finance – participants are asked to explore key challenges in international economic law and development finance and the responses needed to address poverty and inequality in the Global South.

As in prior conferences, we aim to promote a dialogue between scholars and practitioners from the Global South and North and especially welcome participants from the Global South.

SUBMISSIONS: We invite proposals for individual papers or panels on any topic or theme in the two tracks. Proposals for panel discussions should indicate potential participants. Proposals should contain an abstract of 200-300 words. Book launch panels are also invited.

DEADLINE: Proposals and expressions of interest should be submitted by 9 March 2020 via the conference website. Please note that you will first be asked to register on the website and then to submit your abstract.

CONTACT: Please submit your submissions via the landing page on the conference website. Questions may be addressed via the conference website or to Tanya.Stephens@mandela.ac.za

TRAVEL STIPENDS: A limited number of travel stipends for speakers based in the Global South are available. Applications should be submitted with proposals for papers or panels in accordance with the criteria published on the conference website.

DECISIONS on papers and panels will be announced by 30 April 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION on conference themes, submissions and stipends, please see the conference website.

Upcoming academic opportunities: February deadlines

The following opportunities may be of interest to researchers in the field of law and development:

Vacancies / fellowships / scholarships

Research fellow – property as habitat: reintegrating place, people, and law | Melbourne Law School, Australia (deadline: 3 February 2020)

Assistant professor – globalization and development | Maastricht University, The Netherlands (deadline: 6 February 2020)

Assistant professor – sociology | University of San Francisco, USA (deadline: 10 February 2020)

Program Officer – American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good | American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Cambridge, MA, USA (deadline: 11 February 2020)

Department chair & professor/associate professor + assistant professor – race, ethnicity & gender studies | University of Missouri Kansas City, USA  

Conferences and workshops

Thirteenth International Junior Faculty Forum  |  Stanford Law School, USA | October 2020  (deadline: 7 February 2020)

The Sexual Politics of Freedom | Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway | 22 – 23 May 2020 (deadline: 21 February 2020)

Indigenous Private Law | Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada | 8 May 2020 (deadline: 28 February 2020)

Upcoming academic opportunities: January deadlines

The following vacancies and other opportunities may be of interest to researchers in the field of law and development:

Vacancies / fellowships / scholarships

PhD position – UN, indigenous peoples and interlegal translation | ERC RIVERS project, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain (deadline: 14 January 2020)

Two research associates / fellows | Oceans Law and Policy Programme & Oceans Governance Research Programme, National University of Singapore Centre for International Law (deadline: 20 January 2020)

Ad Astra fellowship – lecturer / assistant professor  | Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, Ireland (deadline: 24 January 2020)

LDRN member publications – December 2019

Kennedy Kariseb and Chairman Okoloise “Reflections on the African Governance Architecture: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities” in Michael Addaney, Michael Gyan Nyarko & Elsabé Boshoff  (eds) Governance, Human Rights, and Political Transformation in Africa  (2020) Palgrave MacMillan 41-68. 
  
Jennifer Lander, Transnational Law and State Transformation: The Case of Extractive Development in MongoliaAbingdon: Routledge, 2020. (20% discount on the hardback price for orders via the Routledge website, using the code FLR40).
 
Chairman Okoloise “Balancing National Security and Human Rights in the Fight Against Boko Haram in Nigeria” in  Michael Addaney, Michael Gyan Nyarko & Elsabé Boshoff  (eds) Governance, Human Rights, and Political Transformation in Africa  (2020) Palgrave MacMillan 309-331. 

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LDRN members are welcome to announce their latest publications via this list – please send references and links to the Editor by the final Monday of the month.  (Submissions for the next list can be sent until the final Monday of January 2020).