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The Law and Political Economy Project

Weekly Roundup: Oct. 25

Zohra Ahmed on the role that criminal fines and fees play in financing the state, Miguel Ruiz on the role of law and social movements in the fight against Spain’s chronic housing crisis, and Matthew Glover and Joshua Ingram on fascism from an Afrikan perspective. Plus, a call for (your!) recently accepted LPE scholarship, an internship with the Movement Law Lab, a workshop on the LPE of Social Reproduction, new articles by Nicole Summers and Alyssa Battistoni, an analysis of Trump’s likely judicial appointments, and a look at the new lobbying industry spawned by economic sanctions.

Enough! The Spanish Fight to Limit Housing Speculation

Throughout Spain, social movements are fighting against a chronic housing crisis caused by an influx of tourists and international capital. In this struggle, law is often a reflection of the existing neoliberal power structure, but with the support of sustained popular mobilizations, it has also served as a tool for emancipation.

The Role of Coercion in the Neoliberal Economy

As neoliberal attacks on progressive taxation emptied public coffers, states and municipalities increasingly turned to fines and fees to generate revenue. More fundamentally, criminal punishment became a necessary correlate to a state that must enforce property rights against an ever-growing multitude.

Movement Lawyering in Times of Rising Authoritarianism

In a time of rising authoritarianism and neoliberal hegemony, movement lawyers understand that the law and legal institutions primarily serve to protect capitalism, rather than everyday people. Nevertheless, as this symposium will show, from Argentina and Brazil to Palestine, Spain, and Tunisia, movement lawyers are devising creative legal tactics in defense of democracy, pluralism, and self-determination.

LPE Originals

Doron Dorfman

Doron Dorfman is a Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School. His research and teaching focus on health law, disability law, employment law, torts, and family law. His work has won multiple writing awards, was cited by federal courts, and was featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Professor…

All Power To The Tenants

Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis’ new book, Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis, is both a polemic and a guide. Drawing on their experiences organizing with the Los Angeles Tenants Union, Rosenthal and Vilchis envision a world where tenants control housing – a liberatory horizon that legal scholars, lawyers, and law students alike have a clear role to play in reaching.

From the Vault: LPE & History

The blog post is never dead. It’s not even post. We reach into the vault and highlight some of our favorite posts on LPE and history, featuring K-Sue Park, Luke Herrine, Gabriel Winant, Johanna Fernández, Aziz Rana, Vanessa Ogle, Evelyn Atkinson, William Forbath and Joseph Fishkin, Claire Dunning, Beryle Satter, and Uʻilani Tanigawa Lum and Kaulu Luʻuwai.

Weekly Roundup: September 26

Mehrsa Baradaran on neoliberalism’s unlikely victors, Angela Harris on the assault on academic freedom, and David Boehm and Lynn Ta on the forgotten promise of the Norris-LaGuardia Act. Plus, an upcoming event with Sandeep Vaheesan, a CFP on Neoliberalism and the Capitalists, and new pieces by Amy Kapczynski, JW Mason, Matthew Dimick, Yochai Benkler, Eva Nanopoulos, Talha Syed, and Evenlyn Douek and Genevieve Lakier.

The Unlikely Victors

The intellectuals of the neoliberal movement are best understood as the losers of societal change — rearguard protectionists who decided that rather than concede to democracy, they would subvert and delegitimize it.

Weekly Roundup: September 13

Quinn Slobodian on Melinda Cooper’s Counterrevolution, Shaina Potts on the concept of Judicial Territory, and Christopher Ali on the looming threat of Private Equity to affordable broadband. Plus, a new LPE book series, a new issue of the JLPE, a new book by Lenore Palladino, upcoming events on The Constitutional Bind, public pharma in CT, and whether capitalism is defensible, as well as new pieces by Henry Farrell, Jed Britton-Purdy, Sandeep Vaheesan and Brian Callaci, and Wendy Brown.

Transnational Law as a Battle of Position

American courts exercise authority beyond U.S. borders, including over foreign governments, all the time. To most observers, this is simply a consequence of increasing economic globalization and legal modernization, which untethered jurisdiction from territory. But this is a mistake. Law has not become divorced from territory but instead actively remapped it; it has not merely responded to globalization, but actively produced it.

The Rise of Neoliberal Public Finance

How did the American state come to be so extravagant in its recourse to public debt issuance, yet so selectively austere in its public spending choices? To answer this question, we need to understand how two rival schools of thought — Virginia school public choice and supply side economics — converged around the imperative to rein in the redistributive uses of public spending.

Why Has the Rule of Law Become So Fragile?

The rule of law is inherently fragile, as law’s legitimacy ultimately depends on politics. Yet as demonstrated by the successful referendum in Berlin to expropriate more than 250,000 apartments from corporate landlords, this very dependence can empower democratic mobilization and redirect the conservative nature of the law towards a progressive future.