Toward an Elaboration of a More Pluralistic Legal Landscape for Developing West African Countries: Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) and Law and Development
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Abstract
In Europe and especially in France, the African business law landscape, as well as the legal discourse, for developing West African countries is almost exclusively dedicated to OHADA, the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa, created in 1993. While economic development in the Member States is the obvious underlying reason for the modernization and unification of African business law, the exact nature of such development remains uncertain, as does the manner in which a such result can or will be achieved. OHADA’s Uniform Acts are, with some minor exceptions, a carbon copy of French business law. The only goal is to increase international investment, which, in turn, is expected to generate economic development, but all without taking any notice of equality or social justice issues. That, without a doubt, is the reason why OHADA is constantly criticized as a law that benefits foreign investors, while remaining ineffective, even illusory, for local traders. To go beyond the criticism, the authors have decided to focus on the relationship between law and the informal sector and to draw lines between formal and informal rules in the business sector.
©2015 Law and Development Review
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Redefining and Analyzing “Development” and the Role and Rule of Law
- Articles
- The Paradoxical Roles of Property Rights in Growth and Development
- Yong-Shik Lee, “Call for a New Analytical Model for Law and Development”: A Comment
- Initial Reflections on an Interdisciplinary Approach to Rule of Law Studies
- The Importance of the Thin Conception of the Rule of Law for International Development: A Decision-Theoretic Account
- Tracking the Law and Development Continuum through Multiple Intersections
- The World Bank’s Sustainable Development Approach and the Need for a Unified Field of Law and Development Studies in Argentina
- Policy Space and Policy Autonomy under the WTO: A Comparison of Post-Crisis Industrial Policies in Brazil and the US
- Toward an Elaboration of a More Pluralistic Legal Landscape for Developing West African Countries: Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) and Law and Development
- Conceptualizing the Developmental State in Resource-Rich Sub-Saharan Africa
- Trade, Development and Child Labor: Regulation and Law in the Case of Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Redefining and Analyzing “Development” and the Role and Rule of Law
- Articles
- The Paradoxical Roles of Property Rights in Growth and Development
- Yong-Shik Lee, “Call for a New Analytical Model for Law and Development”: A Comment
- Initial Reflections on an Interdisciplinary Approach to Rule of Law Studies
- The Importance of the Thin Conception of the Rule of Law for International Development: A Decision-Theoretic Account
- Tracking the Law and Development Continuum through Multiple Intersections
- The World Bank’s Sustainable Development Approach and the Need for a Unified Field of Law and Development Studies in Argentina
- Policy Space and Policy Autonomy under the WTO: A Comparison of Post-Crisis Industrial Policies in Brazil and the US
- Toward an Elaboration of a More Pluralistic Legal Landscape for Developing West African Countries: Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) and Law and Development
- Conceptualizing the Developmental State in Resource-Rich Sub-Saharan Africa
- Trade, Development and Child Labor: Regulation and Law in the Case of Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry
