Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal [Paperback]

Ugo Mattei (Author), Laura Nader (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1405178949 | ISBN-13: 978-1405178945 | Publication Date: March 25, 2008 | Edition: 1

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?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Plunder is a detailed, well written autopsy of how law and our legal system further strengthens the already powerful, while decimating those already located outside the reach of power. In the world of the post-economic collapse, Plunder is a painfully frightening roadmap decrying the dangers of the exact "legal" practices (derivatives, call options, etc.) that brought on the current economic crisis."  (Multinational Monitor, Jan - Feb 2009)

“Mattei and Nader note how win-win situations as ostensibly promoted by Alternative Dispute Resolution practices are in fact harmony ideologies that ‘may be used to suppress people's resistance, by socializing them toward conformity by means of consensus, cooperation, passivity, and docility, and by silencing people who speak out angrily." (Swans Commentary)

"Without doubt this is an important book … Mattei and Nader have produced a courageous, intellectually refined, and superbly critical book about one of the main instruments of society-building in our culture. The book should find a wide audience in law classes, and in graduate courses of sociology, anthropology, and political sciences." (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute)

Review

"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 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405178949
• ISBN-13: 978-1405178945
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plunder: A Conceptual Key to Present Crises, November 25, 2008

By 

Robert H. Mclaughlin (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal (Paperback)

In their new book, Nader and Mattei confront readers with a paradox. How could the rule of law be illegal? If this question leaves you puzzled, or gives you doubt about the conceptual rigor of a book that offers a socio-legal interpretation of plunder, you will find the arguments even more compelling and persuasive for having held an initial skepticism. Nader and Mattei show--with a gaze that is global in scope yet remains sensitive to the individual experiences of ordinary people--how laws may be used to support structural inequality, to restrict access to resources and capital by defining the status and circumstances of individuals according to patterns of exclusion, and to map citizenship across people and corporate entities alike, in an undifferentiated way that erodes the concept and the rights bearing quality essential to its meaning. The dual qualities of law to render justice and to mask injustice emerge from the careful, critical, and realistic thinking of the authors. In effect, they invite readers to see the world differently and to demand that people be "free to build their own economies."

As the authors tack between the politics of the current American presence in Iraq and those of the collapsed Enron Corporation, back historically to the colonial framing of contemporary capitalist economies, and forward to the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs that have used an invisible hand to choke the independence of judiciaries and legal processes, they describe a global climate and conditions of disaster that have, in recent months, revealed themselves in the dynamics of the American financial crisis. The structured powerlessness of ordinary citizens to do anything about rampant home foreclosures in their communities, to have objected to the absurd lending practices that fueled the real estate bust, or even to now refuse massive, tax-based government obligations--whether these obligations represent a good idea or a poor one--exemplifies plunder as Nader and Mattei treat the concept. They use basic definitions of the term, taking plunder to be a verb (to rob of goods by force, especially in times of war), and also a noun (property stolen by fraud or force). And they write in short, clear, and accessible text.

Nader and Mattei conclude with optimism, that present circumstances of inequality, subjugation, and domination are not wrought by an iron fate, but rather reflect the consequences of human behaviors, assumptions, and laws that can be changed. They believe that human beings may be self-disciplined to avoid trespass against each other. They have foreseen and interrogated the root causes of the events upon us in their book, _Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal_. May their optimism endure the reality.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift to a friend, October 4, 2008

By 

Andrea Pradi "R.B." (Berkeley Ca) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal (Paperback)

This is an eye opener! It made me change my mind of the supposed "virtues" of the rule of law. Most people believe what Posner and the World Bank advisers write about the law. Read Mattei and Nader: you will see where illegality dwells.I bought ten copies to make a real life long gift to my friends!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Read!, October 1, 2008

By 

shmooks - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal (Paperback)

This book encourages its readers to take their assumptions about western civilization and the "legal rule of order" and turn them on their heads. It is an honest and thought-provoking look at the systems and institutions that are so fundamental to the US. Everyone should read this!