The WAGE Remaking the Developmental State Collaborative analyzes the changing role of law, politics, and the state in economic development in China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.

Principal Investigators:

 

John Ohnesorge, Associate Professor of Law
Gay Seidman, Professor of Sociology
Aseema Sinha, Associate Professor of Political Science

Project Overview:

Around the developing world, the activist, interventionist state is making a comeback.  From China to Venezuela, Russia to India, Brazil to South Africa, one sees open discussion of state activities in economic governance going far beyond what have been considered normal and appropriate in recent years.  The goal of this collaborative is to study this return to the state in developing countries, to examine where and why it is occurring, and to compare the specific forms it takes in different national contexts.  Particular attention will be paid to the role of law and legal institutions as the concrete mechanisms through which the changing role of the state can be chronicled. 

A basic starting point for this project is that the era of the Washington Consensus is over, and that the state is making a comeback in developing countries around the world.  It is thus crucial to understand how stronger, more interventionist states will interact with today’s highly globalized international economy.  The objective is to identify and study ways in which the role of the state is being reinterpreted and renegotiated, in response to globalization, but also in ways that will affect the future path of globalization.

We will explore the relationship between state capacity and economic globalization via a series of comparative studies on, for instance: the state and the private sector; the state and the international economy; the extent of democracy and protection of political and civil rights; and the extent of state intervention for social protection and the role of social and economic rights, and the role of law and legal institutions in the new developmental states. This research will produce a rich body of material for comparative historical analysis in the following countries: Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

 

For more information on collaborative activities, outreach and research, please visit the Global Legal Studies Center RDS page.