Legal education, globalization, and the new imperialism

Abstract

Law and legal education are being exposed to tough developments as globalization alters the configuration of world society. Although legal education is parochial and prescriptive, it has a residual power. The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has carried out surveys on progress in legal reform in its constituency countries, both of which show reform is directly proportional to inward investment flows. Globalization, as a set of processes, economic, cultural and economic, has the potential to engender chaos. The new imperialism of the supranational bodies is deficient in the benign paternalism of the old-style colonialism which at least pretended to have the welfare of communities at heart. The relationship between globalization and the field of law is reflexive: as the economy expands and integrates, its need for regulation also grows; the economy demands particular kinds of law and law thereby shapes the economy.