Lawyering Imperial Encounters

Préface
Revisits the rush for Africa's 'green' minerals by documenting the interconnectedness between legal imperialism and financialization.

Auteur
Sara Dezalay is a lawyer and political sociologist. She is a Professor at the European School of Political and Social Sciences, Université Catholique de Lille, associate researcher at the Institut des Mondes Africains and former adjunct judge at the French national court for asylum seekers.

Résumé
Lawyering Imperial Encounters revisits the relationship between the African continent and global capitalism since the 19th century Scramble. Focused on sites of imperial encounters in London, Paris, Abidjan, Bujumbura, Kinshasa, Johannesburg or the Hague, it provides an unprecedented account of the correlation between the legacy of legal imperialism and British hegemony, and the uneven and unequal expansion of finance and global justice in the current rush for Africa's 'green' minerals. Tracking the role played by legal intermediaries to negotiate and justify Africa's practical and symbolic subaltern position in the global economy, it demonstrates the interconnectedness between political, legal and economic change in capitalism's cores and its so-called peripheries. Embracing the global turn in sociology, history and legal scholarship, it rubs against the functionalist account of global value chains as engines of development. It also constitutes a powerful postcolonial critique of law's double-bind - as both enabler and bulwark against domination.

Contenu
Introduction; 1. Imperial encounters: localities, institutions, structures; 2. Indirect rule and middle power 1880s1950s; 3. Gatekeeper states and offshore capitalism 1950s1980s; 4. The New Scramble, deregulation, re-regulation 1980s?; 5. Bujumbura Hyper violence and hyper legality; 6. Abidjan Lawfare and accountability dumping; 7. Paris the 'Africa' corporate bar: imperial revivals and neoliberalism; 8. The value of social class in global justice; Conclusion; References; Index.