The World Bank's engagement with projects involving extractive industries has not proven particularly successful. Especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, it has actually often made matters worse. Borrower countries' economies failed to grow, and corruption increased; the poor did not benefit from the...

Recent development challenges highlight a pressing need to re-evaluate whether the post-World War II behemoths of multilateral development finance are up to the tasks being demanded of them today. The institutions that dominate the current order, the United Nations (“UN”) and the World Bank,...

Tenuous land access contributes to food and livelihood insecurity, and fuels conflicts in many rural societies. In such cases, the ability of government legal institutions to structure and ultimately transform the conflict depends not just on the adoption of laws favorable to progressive land...

On 11 December 2001, China officially became a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after years of negotiations. The paper shows how a major developing country has used the WTO dispute settlement system by examining China’s participation in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism from its...

The resort to legal measures to combat corruption in Africa is almost universal. But the effectiveness of law in controlling criminal or anti-social behavior is not a given; rather it is contingent. This article argues that, given the peculiarities of the African society, legal measures that aim...

This article analyzes the record of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria with respect to the prosecution of the corrupt practices in Nigeria of foreign actors (individuals and corporations). The article seeks to extract from the analyses possibilities and implications for...

The importance of human rights in development is gaining prominence. In concrete settings and contexts, however, contesting development practices with human rights normative standards is controversial. The article outlines this controversy and complexity in Indonesia. It highlights tensions in...

This article discusses Canada's unique approach to corruption in international business. Although Canada subscribes to the revulsion against corruption felt by its global partners, its anti-bribery laws aim to maintain a balance between the two extremes of putting Canadian businesses at a global...

Chinese investment in Africa has increased rapidly over the past two decades. This paper asks how, why, whether it is good or bad, and what Africans can do about it.

This article examines Kenya's anti-corruption agenda over the past six decades, ending with Kenya's new Constitution of 2010. It concludes that the prospects of an effective anti-corruption regime cannot be predicted, in spite of recent obvious institutional improvements. Almost every turn made...