Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2024
Post-World War II theories of modernization, including theories of law and development, have proved inadequate either to explain development and underdevelopment or to make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the role of law in underdeveloped countries. To what extent do contemporary ideas of underdevelopment and dependency in the social sciences provide the foundation for a theoretical renewal in the comparative sociology of law? To answer this question, the paper first examines the origins of these ideas and discusses the methods, presuppositions, and concepts of the principal theoretical writings on underdevelopment and dependency. It then considers two important issues raised by these writings and addressed by a number of recent studies: the relation between the state and classes, and the relationship of peasants to capitalism. This review concludes that theories of underdevelopment and dependency contribute to the reorientation of social research on law by forcing a reappraisal of previous ideologies and proposing new frameworks of analysis. But it also argues that such a reorientation must ultimately transcend those concepts by participating in the elaboration of Marxist theories of law.
The author wishes to thank Richard L. Abel and Siân Snyder for their helpful comments on drafts of this paper; Ronald H. Chilcote, Yash P. Ghai, and Etienne LeRoy for answering queries and providing material assistance; and the staff of the University of Warwick Library for its efficiency in obtaining many sources used in preparing this paper. None of these, of course, is responsible for the selection of items or topics discussed or the interpretations presented.