Plunder examines the dark side of the Rule of Law and explores how it has been used as a powerful political weapon by Western countries in order to legitimize plunder – the practice of violent extraction by stronger political actors victimizing weaker ones.
- Challenges traditionally held beliefs in the sanctity of the Rule of Law by exposing its dark side
- Examines the Rule of Law's relationship with 'plunder' – the practice of violent extraction by stronger political actors victimizing weaker ones – in the service of Western cultural and economic domination
- Provides global examples of plunder: of oil in Iraq; of ideas in the form of Western patents and intellectual property rights imposed on weaker peoples; and of liberty in the United States
- Dares to ask the paradoxical question – is the Rule of Law itself illegal?
"Richly textured and strikingly original,
Plunder draws on history, communication theory, and political analysis to show how U.S. policy expands influence and raids the pocketbooks of weaker nations. Even if we do not call it by its old name––imperialism––but globalization, free trade, or spreading democracy, the result is the same. And at the heart of this aggressively acquisitive policy lies a crown jewel of Enlightenment thought, the rule of law. A gripping read."
Richard Delgado, University of Pittsburgh
"This is a provocative, courageous, and path–breaking expose of the dark side of the rule of law , by two authors of wide–ranging practical experience and theoretical insight."
George Bisharat, University of California, Hasting College of the Law
"Plunder is the powerful product of interdisciplinary research that reveals how international law has become not an instrument of protecting the weak against the strong, but a means of legitimizing and enriching the powerful."
David H. Price, Saint Martin s University
"Ugo Mattei and Laura Nader are advancing a profoundly disturbing message. The rule of law is not only a barrier to achieving a just society, but an ideological mechanism for subjugating peoples and imposing injustice. I am impressed by their insights and especially by their courage."
William Greider, author, The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
"Through a sweeping exploration of global processes from colonialism to neo–liberalism, Plunder offers an eye–opening look at the dark side of the rule of law. This powerful and disturbing analysis of the ways law has legitimated and facilitated the appropriation of knowledge and property challenges widespread views of the law."
Sally Engle Merry, New York University
"A lucid and implacable analysis of the crucial relationship between law and life in the age of global capitalism. A beam of harsh light on the murky area where the rule of law comes into contact with and is shaped by power, violence and abuse."
Aldo Schiavone, Istituto Studi Umanistici
