Dialectics of Philosophical Pillars of the Law and Development Doctrine

Abstract

This article analyses the philosophical foundations of the Law and Development doctrine, which has been used as a practical tool since the 1950s in many countries in an attempt to improve their socioeconomic conditions. Since the adoption of the UN Resolution on Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, most countries have been making efforts to achieve it. We emphasize two philosophical-legal traditions in Law and Development under consideration, which in many respects display antagonistic attitudes to each other: liberal legalism and the ideas of postmodernism philosophy, in particular, the ideas of post-development. The dialectics of this contradiction is revealed in an attempt by liberal legalism to spread itself beyond the western legal systems. Postmodernism, which has been influenced by left-wing political and legal doctrines (neo-Marxism), is aimed at taking into account the interests of local cultures and more equitable distribution of global public goods as a development priority. Following the logic of G. F. Hegel, the evolution of Law and Development can be presented as the spiral reflecting the interaction of law and development theories that began to unwind in the second half of the XX century and continues its upward movement to the present moment.