Doing Business Guidance, Legal Origins Theory, and the Politics of Governance by Knowledge

Authors

Liam McHugh-Russell, Dalhousie University Schulich School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Keywords

Doing Business, Legal Origins Theory, Immanent Critique, Law and Development, Politics of Development Knowledge

Abstract

This article uses the World Bank’s Doing Business project to illuminate the politics of “governance by knowledge.” It synthesizes scholarship critiquing the project’s legitimacy and contributes to research challenging the instrumental benefits of improved Doing Business performance. The article’s major contribution is an immanent critique of Legal Origins Theory, which was developed largely to provide ex post validation for the project’s core claims, but whose premises, when taken seriously, lead to conclusions that contradict its “one-size-fits-all” logic. The article demonstrates much can be learned about the politics of development by engaging rationalizations of power on their own terms.

Comments

This is the Author's Original Manuscript (AOM). This article has been published in a revised version in the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2021.1971953

© 2021 Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID)

Recommended Citation

Liam McHugh-Russell, “Doing Business Guidance, Legal Origins Theory, and the Politics of Governance by Knowledge" (2022) 43:1 Can J Development Studies 137.