Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2005
Patrick McAuslan, Bringing the Law Back In: essays in land, law and development (Aldershot: Ashgate. 2003)
The title of the book sums up my overall stance: there is an important role for law in development generally and in land reform in particular and it is, in my view, wholly beneficial that after almost three decades of virtually ignoring the role of law in development … international financial institutions, aid agencies and scholars in the West are beginning to appreciate and reaffirm both its centrality to development in practice and its centrality to understanding the process of development and change in societies in developing countries. (McAuslan 2003: vii)
He who is able to translate others' interests into his own language carries the day. (Latour 1983: 144)