Ruling the Law: Legitimacy and Failure in Latin American Legal Systems

The North-South global divide is influenced by perception and prejudice, with Latin America being ruled by hegemonic misrepresentations of its national legal systems. Jorge L. Esquirol's study explores new questions in international relations, focusing on the power dynamics among national legal systems.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 299 pages
Publication date: 19 May 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

The North-South global divide extends far beyond mere economic disparities, encompassing a complex interplay of perception, prejudice, and legal systems. In Latin America, dominant misrepresentations of national legal frameworks hinder the region's development and undermine its sovereignty. Europe, on the other hand, portrays its laws as legitimate and respectful of international norms, fostering a sense of legal legitimacy and cooperation. However, a contrasting diagnosis emerges, highlighting excessive legal formalism, a significant gap between law and action, inappropriate European transplants, elite control, pervasive inefficiencies, and widespread corruption. These notions, often exaggerated to the point of fiction, exert a profound influence on US foreign policy, international agency programs, private disputes, and academic research. Jorge L. Esquirol identifies their materialization in global governance, particularly undermining Latin American states in legal geopolitics, and their deployment by private parties in transnational litigation and international arbitration. By adopting a rigorous legal realism approach, this study delves into new questions of international relations, shedding light on the intricate power dynamics among national legal systems.

Weight: 444g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781316630921