Institute of Development Studies

Law, Democracy and Development

'Research and debate on rights and wellbeing, property, shelter, land, participation, and information'

The Law, Democracy and Development Programme (LDD) at IDS brought together scholars, policy actors, and students to debate innovative research on the relationship between fundamental rights, state and non-state legal systems, and human development. It was based on the premise that legal and regulatory orders shape people's economic and political decision-making and thus their life-chances and development opportunities. The design of legal institutions have consequences on the fate of 'basic rights-oriented' goals such as the 'Millennium Development Goals' for eliminating poverty and inequality.

The programme fostered cross-disciplinary and comparative research by sponsoring workshops, seminars, courses in the IDS MPhil and MA in Governance, and a Working Paper series. The priority focus of LDD in the 2001-05 period was on the links between legal mobilisation of civil society and state actors in defining and meeting land, housing and property rights.

In collaboration with the DRC on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability, the research examined: 

• different development actors' understanding and implementation of rights-based approaches to development
• how grassroots movements invent or redefine accountability structures in the process of claiming rights.

Details of other related research projects and workshops: 

• The Rights to Property and Human Rights
• Legal Translation of Customary Law 
• Legal Mobilisation of Rural Poor 
• Legal Mobilisation of Urban Poor 
• Right to Information

• IDS key contact: Peter Houtzager
• Project dates: February 2001 - February 2005
• Project status: Closed

Researchers

• Anne Marie Goetz
• Peter Houtzager
• Rachel Sabates-Wheeler
• Celestine Nyamu-Musembi
• Farhana Yamin

Selected Outputs

• Houtzager, P (2005) 'The Movement of the Landless (MST) and the Juridical Field in Brazil', IDS Working Paper 248, Brighton:
• Lavalle, A. G, Houtzager, P and Castello, G (2005) 'In Whose Name? Political Representation and Civil Organisations in Brazil', IDS Working Paper 249, Brighton:
• Crook, R. (2005) 'State Courts and the Regulation of Land Disputes in Ghana: the Litigants Perspective?', IDS Working Paper 241, Brighton:
• Franco, J.C. (2005) 'Making Property Rights Accessible: Social Movements and Legal Innovation in the Philippines', IDS Working Paper 244, Brighton:
• Anderson, M.R. (2003) 'Access To Justice and Legal Process: Making Legal Institutions Responsive To Poor People in LDCs', IDS Working Paper 178, Brighton: IDS
• Gross Cunha, L. (2003) 'Notes on Access to Justice in a Megalopolis: São Paulo, Brazil', IDS Working Paper 181, Brighton: IDS
• Houtzager, P. (2003) 'Social Function of Property, Movement of the Landless (MST), and the Judicial Field in Brazil'
• Nyamu-Musembi, C. (2002) 'Towards an Actor-oriented Perspective on Human Rights', IDS Working Paper 169, Brighton:
• Agarwal, B. (2002) 'Bargaining and Legal Change: Toward Gender Equality in India's Inheritance Laws', IDS Working Paper 165, Brighton: IDS
• Crook, R. and Houtzager, P. (2001) 'Making Law Matter: Rights, Rules and Security in the Live of the Poor', IDS Bulletin 32.1, Brighton: IDS
• O'Donnell, G (2000) 'Democracy, Law, and Comparative Politics', IDS Working Paper 118, Brighton :