Culture in Law and Development

Nurturing Positive Change

Lan Cao

Presents a provocative new solution to the seemingly intractable problem of combining international norms with local cultural traditions
Demonstrates how the gradual expansion of customary international law provides a model for changing culture in ways that protect and advance local populations
Offers an Interdisciplinary approach integrating related fields of study, including law and development, international relations, public and private international law, and international human rights
Aids international law and women studies scholars in navigating the cultural approach to feminism

Culture in Law and Development

Nurturing Positive Change

Lan Cao

Description

The growth of international law in the post-World War II era stemmed partly from the belief that universal norms would make life for the entire world's population safer, more equitable, and more conducive to each person's acquisition of basic material needs. Starting in the sixties and seventies, some scholars and activists challenged this assumption and established the school of "cultural relativism," a model that pays deference to local cultural traditions and favors them over international human rights norms. Scholars tried to create and practice a middle-ground approach between universalism and relativism, whereby the most egregious violations would be prevented through assimilating only jus cogens norms into indigenous groups' existing cultural traditions. Such efforts at combining a few select international norms with local cultural traditions largely failed.

Culture in Law and Development presents a provocative new solution to the seemingly intractable problem of combining international norms with local cultural traditions by changing culture through law and development. In this book, Lan Cao demonstrates how the gradual expansion of customary international law (CIL) provides a model for changing culture in ways that protect and advance local populations. The book adopts a holistic view of development and argues that cultural norms that impede the human capabilities of the poor, women, and other marginal groups should be changed. The book reveals how a more conscious, coordinated effort on such change can succeed while non-violative local traditions are otherwise honored and preserved. Cao proposes that cultural change does not have to constitute cultural disrespect, and that local societies only benefit by a careful combination of externally wrought change and internally fostered tradition.

Culture in Law and Development

Nurturing Positive Change

Lan Cao

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1
A Brief History of Law and Development and the Emerging New Framework

Chapter 2
Culture and International Law

Chapter 3
Law and Development, Culture and Development

Chapter 4
International Law Norms

Chapter 5
To Change a Culture

Chapter 6
A Normative Defense of Culture change

Conclusion

Index

Culture in Law and Development

Nurturing Positive Change

Lan Cao

Author Information

Lan Cao is the Betty Hutton Williams Professor of International Economic Law at Chapman University. She joined the Dale E. Fowler School of Law in 2013. Previously, she was on the faculty at William & Mary Law School for more than a decade. She has also served on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. Her extensive publishing history includes articles in the California Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Virginia Journal of International Law. She has also published a well-reviewed novel related to themes in the proposed book: Monkey Bridge (1997) and The Lotus and the Storm (2014).

Culture in Law and Development

Nurturing Positive Change

Lan Cao

Reviews and Awards

"Culture in Law and Development is a pioneering book that systematically shows how culture has been neglected - at significant cost - in a range of separate but interrelated fields, from public international law to international human rights to international relations to law and development. Although almost everyone acknowledges that 'culture is important,' few scholars are willing to engage the thorny issues raised by culture - for example, what should we do when local cultures are antithetical to international development norms? In this fascinating and provocative book, Professor Lan Cao takes on this challenge, arguing that culture can be changed, should be changed, and has been changed before." Amy Chua, John M. Duff, Jr. Professor of Law, Yale Law School

"This path-breaking book examines the necessity of engaging forthrightly with cultural questions if rule of law building efforts are to be sustainable and effective. With insight and sensitivity, [the author] explores both the challenges and opportunities of addressing culture directly. How, for example, can tensions between international standards and local practices be addressed? How can opportunities for creative engagement and empowerment of marginalized voices be nurtured? Highlighting the often fluid nature of cultural traditions and debates, [the author] offers innovative approaches that will be of broad interest to rule of law practitioners, scholars, policy makers, and advocates on the ground." -Jane Stromseth, Professor of Law, Georgetown University

"Lan Cao's book emphasizes that informal institutions and social practice matter as much as rules and law, and she offers invaluable guidance to policymakers seeking to assist post-conflict societies and jumpstart economic development. She persuasively argues that this cannot be done without taking account of culture and trauma -engaging a society with sympathy and internal understanding, while conceding how hard it is for an outsider to facilitate change. The current chaos in the world instructs that there is no end to history - and that a sense of poetry may be necessary to intervene effectively in mitigating the hardship of the poor." -Ruth Wedgwood, Edward Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, D.C., and former U.S. member, United Nations Human Rights Committee

Culture in Law and Development

Nurturing Positive Change

Lan Cao

From Our Blog

Culture change for women in Afghanistan

When Laura Bush said in April 2016 that she wanted the President of the United States to care about Afghan women, one could reasonably infer that she would rather see Hillary Clinton elected President than Donald Trump. Hillary has proclaimed that women's rights are human rights, meaning that to the extent that human rights have become a part of mainstream political discourse, so should women's rights.

Posted on August 1, 2016

Read the blog post