Post-colonialism and Systems Theory: Notes for an Agenda of Research into Law in the Global South

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO
Author/s Gonçalves Guilherme Leite
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/1 Language Italian
Pages 23 P. 33-55 File size 120 KB
DOI 10.3280/SD2014-001002
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The analysis of law in outlying countries furnished by the systems theory stresses the existence of a presumed operative deficit. This article sets out to discuss the possibility of opening the systems theory up to post-colonial studies, so as to formulate a critique of this interpretation. On the one hand, it aims to demonstrate that this interpretation is based on a presumption of moral superiority on the part of how law functions in the northern hemisphere, which is then used to judge legal practices all over the world, thus reproducing forms of re-colonisation. On the other hand, the article discusses whether post-colonialism is capable of offering an alternative diagnosis of the function of law in the southern hemisphere, within the framework of the systems theory.

Keywords: Systems theory - Post-colonial studies Law in outlying countries and the southern hemisphere - Recolonisation

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Gonçalves Guilherme Leite, Post-colonialismo e teoria dei sistemi: Note per un’agenda di ricerca sul diritto nel sud globale in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO " 1/2014, pp 33-55, DOI: 10.3280/SD2014-001002