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LPE Blog
Symposium

What Non-Reformist Reforms Meant to Us

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Amna Akbar’s recent article on non-reformist reforms foregrounds a question that the LPE movement often bypasses: namely, how might systemic social change occur in the 21st century? However, in considering this question, the article erases nearly fifty years of theory-work, which has much to teach the legal left as it recovers the notion of non-reformist reform.. . .
Symposium

A Horizon Beyond Legalism: On Non-Reformist Reforms

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Today’s left social movements are increasingly turning to a framework of “non-reformist reform” to guide their efforts to build a just society. But what do non-reformist reforms require? How do they differ from liberal and neoliberal approaches to reform? And what role do law and lawyers have to play in advancing such reforms?
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: November 10, 2023

By LPE Editors

Zephyr Teachout on the democratic consequences of algorithmic wage discrimination, Jerry Davis on the disappearance of public corporations from the American economy, and Maryam Jamshidi on the creeping authoritarianism that underlies Florida’s decision to ban local chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine. Plus, a happy hour in DC, upcoming events. . .
Essay

Is This the End of Corporate Capitalism?

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Though dominant features of the American economy for most of the 20th century, corporations have become less numerous in the past three decades. Meanwhile, neglected alternatives to the public corporation have proven surprisingly durable. Given the manifest pathologies of shareholder capitalism, the combination of these two trends may suggest pathways out. . .
Essay

Surveillance Wages: A Taxonomy

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Algorithmic wage discrimination – paying workers personalized wages using opaque and fluctuating formulas – is common in the gig economy. But with the recent development of intrusive new forms of employee surveillance, such wage-setting practices will be coming soon to a workplace near you. This post offers a brief taxonomy of five different forms. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: November 3, 2023

By LPE Editors

Ryan Martínez Mitchell on China’s developing sanctions regime, Yochai Benkler on the role of law in capitalism, and Elettra Bietti on how not to regulate big tech. Plus, upcoming events with Saule Omarova, Marshall Steinbaum, Veena Dubal, Luke Herrine, Hendrik Theine, Tamara Nopper, Eve Zelickson, and Raúl Carrillo; an interview with Amy Kapcynski and. . .
Essay

How Not to Regulate Digital Platforms

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In Paul Gowder’s recent blog post, as well as in his new book, he argues that we should democratize, rather than dismantle or restructure, Big Tech platforms. However, this familiar framing obscures more than it reveals, relying upon an impoverished account of the political economy of technology, of the co-evolution of politics and production, and of. . .
Symposium

The Role of Law in Capitalism

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Within the LPE movement, there is a broad consensus that “law is central to the creation and maintenance of structural inequalities in the state and the market” and that “class power is inextricably connected to the development of racial and gender hierarchies.” These claims, while often articulated in response to neoliberalism, go to the very. . .
Essay

Economic Coercion in a Multipolar World

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Once the near-exclusive prerogative of the United States, unilateral economic sanctions are increasingly a multipolar phenomenon. As Aslı Bâli has recently argued, this current conjuncture may offer a new window to resist forms of economic coercion that legitimate and enforce an unjust neocolonial global order. At the same time, however, there are new. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: October 27, 2023

By LPE Editors

Matthew Dimick defends the concept of capitalism, and the LPE Blog highlights the hottest forthcoming LPE and LPE-adjacent articles. Plus, the at-large student group rises from the ashes, a book talk on American debt relief at HLS, Sandeep Vaheesan and Brian Callaci on the labor movement as a resource for antitrust, Lenore Palladino shares her economic and. . .
Symposium

Is Capitalism “a Thing”?

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According to Sam Moyn, capitalism and the ills it is said to generate are nothing more than a contingent jumble of various legal rules and regulations. Indeed, “capitalism” is merely a term of abuse, to which nineteenth-century thinkers made a misguided attempt to attribute “general laws.” This critique, however, overlooks the extent to which Marx’s. . .
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: October 20, 2023

By LPE Editors

Talha Syed on the poverty of theory in CLS, Douglas Kysar on climate change and the neoliberal imagination, and Bernard Harcourt on the relationship between legal theory and radical political practice. Plus, an open letter from legal scholars urging an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, an event next week with Stephen Vladeck about the shadow docket, and last. . .
Symposium

Critical Legal Theory & Radical Political Praxis

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In his recent post about the LPE Movement’s reticence toward legal theory, Sam Moyn speculates that this aversion may be born of a noble yet misguided deference towards grassroots social movements. Deference, however, does not capture the dynamic relationship between critical legal theory and radical political practice. One does not precede the other or. . .

LPE Masthead

Managing Editor James Brandt Editoral Board Amna Akbar Corinne Blalock Veena Dubal Luke Herrine Amy Kapczynski Caroline Parker Aziz Rana Kate Redburn Karen Tani Noah Zatz Student Editors Liz Brown Chloe Miller Sohum Pal Elliot Setzer Eve Zelickson
Student Editor Emeriti Sam Aber Ashraf Ahmed Will Bloom Adam H. Bradlow Matthew Buck Brett Davidson Isabel Echarte Tariq El-Gabalawy Berto Elysee Molly Gordon Jeff Gordon Ruthie Lazenby Talya Lockman-Fine Andrew Miller Roxana Moussavian Lydia Nicholson