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Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
February 2016
Print publication year:
2016
Online ISBN:
9781316480182
Creative Commons:
Creative Common License - CC Creative Common License - BY Creative Common License - NC Creative Common License - ND
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/creativelicenses

Book description

In The Rule of Law in the Real World, Paul Gowder defends a new conception of the rule of law as the coordinated control of power and demonstrates that the rule of law, thus understood, creates and preserves social equality in a state. In a highly engaging, interdisciplinary text that moves seamlessly from theory to reality, using examples ranging from Ancient Greece through the present, Gowder sheds light on how societies have achieved the rule of law, how they have sustained it in the face of political upheaval, and how it may be measured and developed in the future. The Rule of Law in the Real World is an essential work for scholars, students, policymakers, and anyone else who believes the rule of law is critical to the proper functioning of society. For more information, visit http://rulelaw.net. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Reviews

'Paul Gowder’s masterpiece articulates a new vision of the rule of the law that protects the disempowered and marginalized, and that demands that the nation-state rationalize its coercive power. He relentlessly attacks irrational social, economic and political hierarchies, particularly those that give continued vitality to racial inequality in the US today. As such his rule of law is firmly rooted in notions of human rights, and looks askance at soaring inequality in the US. This rule of law protects real people in need of real protection, rather than serving as just another rhetorical instrument in the arsenal of the wealthy and powerful. It also serves, incidentally, as a bedrock foundation for economic development and a tool that can help avoid financial disruptions like that seen in 2008.'

Steven A. Ramirez - author of Lawless Capitalism

'The Rule of Law in the Real World explores and connects legal philosophy, conceptual and normative, as well as historical interpretation and social sciences, policy analysis, and advocacy. It makes insightful and distinctive contributions in each domain. Moreover, it brings them into mutually informing connection. Standard inmates of the disciplines rarely make (or even imagine) such connections, even when their subject - the rule of law - bears the same name. Gowder’s achievement is thus far more than a sum of its exemplary parts. It is an all too rare combination of theoretical cogency, normative sophistication and ambition, empirical attentiveness, and real world engagement and pay-off.'

Martin Krygier - Gordon Samuels Professor of Law and Social Theory, and Co-Director, Network for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law, University of New South Wales

'Gowder’s thought-provoking contribution is a bold vision for the Rule of Law, providing some quantum of certainty to an uncertain ideal in uncertain times.'

James Campbell Source: SCOLAG Legal Journal

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Contents

Full book PDF
  • The Rule of Law in the Real World
    pp i-ii
  • The Rule of Law in the Real World - Title page
    pp iii-iii
  • Copyright page
    pp iv-iv
  • Dedication
    pp v-vi
  • Contents
    pp vii-x
  • Acknowledgments
    pp xi-xii
  • Introduction
    pp 1-6
  • Chapter 1 - The rule of law: a basic account
    pp 7-27
  • Chapter 2 - The strong version of the rule of law
    pp 28-41
  • Chapter 3 - Generality and hierarchy
    pp 42-57
  • Chapter 4 - Egalitarian liberty and reciprocity in strategic context
    pp 58-77
  • Chapter 5 - Isonomia: The dawn of legal equality
    pp 78-96
  • Chapter 6 - The logic of coordination
    pp 97-119
  • Chapter 7 - Parliament, Crown, and the rule of law in Britain
    pp 120-142
  • Chapter 8 - The logic of commitment
    pp 143-167
  • Chapter 9 - The role of development professionals: measurement and promotion
    pp 168-188
  • Conclusion
    pp 189-196
  • A commitment to equality begins at home
  • Notes
    pp 197-248
  • References
    pp 249-270
  • Index
    pp 271-275

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