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34 Whittier L. Rev. 245 (2012-2013)
Legal Poverty and the Rule of Law in Strife-Torn States

handle is hein.journals/whitlr34 and id is 269 raw text is: LEGAL POVERTY AND THE RULE OF LAW IN STRIFE-TORN STATES MARK FATHI MASSOUD* I. INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY How can scholars, lawyers, and policymakers in international and comparative law think more systematically about the relationship between law, poverty, and dynamics of power in the global South, particularly in authoritarian states or settings beset by political violence and civil war? This essay suggests three preliminary responses to this question and explores issues for future empirical research. First, I propose paying attention to the multiple features of law's power-how legal tools and resources can obstruct as well as advance the goals of international development. Second, I propose questioning how the promotion of international law offers a solution to the problem of poverty in the global South. Third, I propose assessing the export and impact of a model of the rule of law that generally does not include moderate interpretations of religious law. The relationship between law, poverty, and power has been documented extensively in Western, particularly American, settings.1 But as Western legal scholarship focuses increasingly on the global * Assistant Professor of Politics and Legal Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. An earlier version of this essay was presented at the 2012 Whittier Law School symposium, Expanding Critical Spaces in International Law Discourse. The author thanks audience members, Manoj Mate, and Seval Yildirim for helpful comments. 1. See, e.g., RUSSELL W. GALLOWAY, JUSTICE FOR ALL?: THE RICH AND POOR IN SUPREME COURT HISTORY 1790-1990 vii (1991); HELEN HERSHKOFF & STEPHEN LOFFREDO, THE RIGHTS OF THE POOR: THE AUTHORITATIVE ACLU GUIDE TO POOR PEOPLE'S RIGHTS xiv (1997). See also Kristin Bumiller, Victims in the Shadow of the Law: A Critique of the Model of Legal Protection, 12 SIGNS: J. WOMEN AND CULTURE IN Soc'Y 421, 423-24 (1987). 245

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