This volume examines dynamics of legal pluralism and explores the varied ways in which constellations of legal pluralism play out in social life. It aims to bridge the social and theoretical space between small-scale case studies and abstract generalisation. The introduction provides an overview of developments in the field of legal pluralism and offers an analytical perspective on the dynamics of the maintenance of and change in constellations of legal pluralism. Contributions examine situations in which the state is seen as remote from local settings and others in which local populations are actively engaged in widening the scope and validity of state law. By focusing on historical developments and the fault-lines of rapid political change in both post-socialist and post-authoritarian states, the volume shows that legal legacies of the past continue to have an impact. Authors look at the social significance of the various, and sometimes competing, types of law which religious and secular transnational actors introduce into local settings.

Brauchler examines the Indonesian decentralisation process and the revival of tradition and cultural self-determination in the Moluccas. Tuori studies restatements and codifications of customary laws in Africa. Harboe Knudsen considers European Union regulation of the marketing of dairy products in Lithuania. Douglas and Hersi examine the attitudes of Muslims to the smoking of khat. Simarmata studies the contrast between Indonesian state law and local officials' practice regarding natural resources use in East Kalimantan.

"Abstract Global legal pluralism has become one of the leading analytical frameworks for understanding and conceptualizing law in the twenty-first century"--

Exploring the phenomenon of diffusion of legal norms accompanying economic globalisation in developing countries, this book examines the blanket imposition of standard regulatory templates, maintaining that every jurisdiction requires customised legal solutions. Adopted by over 80 developing jurisdictions, the World Bank’s 1993 regulatory template for electricity sector reform has been one of the most widely diffused regulatory models. This book uses the example of its implementation in India to address the more general process of regulatory globalisation for developing countries. Amongst other objectives, the World Bank’s template endeavoured to insulate economic decision making from politics through legal reform. Through this template, the World Bank endeavoured to transform the role of the Indian state in the electricity sector from an interventionist or welfare state to a neo-liberal regulatory state by imposing constitution-like obligations. The book demonstrates that the unique social, economic and political characteristics of a jurisdiction cannot be ignored when incorporating a regulatory template in a jurisdictional context; for, by influencing the way an external regulatory model is internalized, it is these characteristics that determine its outcome. Providing a detailed empirical analysis of this key aspect of development policy, this book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of law and development, politics and public administration; as well as development practitioners and policy makers involved in reforming sector regulatory frameworks in their countries.

This book explores the ambiguous legal status of traditional–adat–communities in Indonesia and their informal, traditional rights to communal–ulayat–land. It discusses the lack of recognition of adat communities and their legal rights in the Indonesian constitution, surveys legal consideration of informal legal rights both in Indonesia and elsewhere, and examines how thinking about these issues has evolved over time in Indonesia. It provides an in-depth study of the ways that government policies on adat communities are developed, changed and implemented, and how different actors give meaning to these policies, particularly government bodies with authority to manage land and forests, which exercise discretion as to the operational implementation of ideas about adat groups as legal persons and ulayat land rights as land title, thus enabling their exploitation by government and business. The book highlights how these issues are becoming more pressing as problems relating to legal personhood and rights to traditional customary land are increasingly giving rise to violent conflict, dispossession and marginalisation. It also demonstrates how adat communities can take action, and are doing so, to protect their legal positions.