Nordic Law and Development: See No Evil, Hear No Evil?

This article deals with the poorly developed relation between the fields of Comparative Law and Law & Development from a Nordic point of view. The main argument of this article is that one should apply a more informed and critical view with regard to the Law & Development efforts and not only to copy the models provided by such global actors as the IMF or the World Bank. According to the author also in the Nordic sphere one should be more distinctly aware of the failures and deeply embedded problems of the Law & Development approach. Article highlights the relevance of the critique to Law & Development, taking the example of the debate on the rule of law in China. It is claimed that much of the problems result from the insufficient interaction with Comparative Law studies and allegedly universal models lacking sensitivity to local contexts.