Law and Development: A General Model

Abstract

As Mark Twain once remarked about the weather, everyone talks about law and development, but nobody does much about it. How does law “set off, monitor, or otherwise regulate the fact or pace of social change?” (Friedman, 1969). Atomistic studies relating specific norms of law to specific sorts of social change are plentiful. Holistic studies purporting to explicate general propositions relating rules and behavior can hardly be found. The few that do exist do hardly more than assure us, most sincerely, that yes, there really is a relationship between law and social change.What is needed is a general model relating law and social change. Here, we discuss (1) the definition of the problem; (2) its parameters; (3) an heuristic model; and (4) a variety of “middle-level” hypotheses that can be suggested. The specific focus of this discussion is on Africa.