Customer Reviews

Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal

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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.

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!

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!

It's a "must", and it's highly readable. This provocative but lucid text defines "plunder" as the violent theft of economic and cultural resources by powerful (usually Western) actors that rape poorer and peripheral countries in the global arena. Popular wisdom about the purity of the Rule of Law is successfully challenged, and its relationship with Western interests of world domination is exposed.

I had been following a certain line of research for quite a while. I got to the point where I thought I understood the issues involved when we would talk of "plunder" and the "rule of law". I could recommend James Galbraith's book The Predator State, and Brian Tamanaha's book, On the Rule of Law- two books I read before I got this book on Plunder on Interlibrary loan. After attempting to read it and getting almost nowhere, you could say I am extremely suspect of the other reviewers of this book, especially when they describe it as "very well-written and a wonderful read" or "highly readable" and "lucid". It was not any of these. It was quite the opposite. On the other hand I do indeed believe that the rule of law has a strong connection with plunder. Read the Tamanaha book (in which he ponders the possibility of the rule of law as being a universal good) and then read, A Little Matter of Genocide by Ward Churchill on the Native American genocide. Then compare and contrast what's been said in the two books and you will have a better idea what's what than reading this book. I don't doubt that there is truth in this book Plunder but I found it an extremely difficult book to read, too much invective for me (and mind you, the authors did not set the book up to be previewed so you can't see for yourself). I had to wonder, who did the authors write this book for? They are, for all appearances, intelligent people but my God! Is this type of writing acceptable in some (academic?!) circles? Who were the editors? Were there any editors at all? Okay, I've had my own little rant here now. Sorry about that! I believe it is an extremely important topic but I really don't think they've done it any justice. However, having given fair warning about how it is written, the topic itself warrants at least two stars and a very cautious recommendation.

It does not happen very often to come across a law book that is able to affect one's deepest beliefs about ideas so ingrained in a lawyer's mind, such as that of "rule of law". Plunder is one such book.

This monograph is a powerful exposition of the political uses (and abuses) that have recently been made of the concept of "rule of law". The book's greatest merit, in this respect, is to connect a multiplicity of different strands, to draw a shockingly clear picture of the practices of extraction that have so often been embedded deep inside the "rule of law" agenda.

As someone with an interest in "law & economics", I was particularly struck by the discussion of the role of the "law & economics" movement in providing scientific legitimacy to the neoliberal agenda pursued through the Washington Consensus. For this reason, I believe Ugo Mattei and Laura Nader's book to be a much-needed wake-up call to anyone with an academic interest in "law and economics", about the need to adopt a careful stance before embracing the mainstream.

More generally, however, Plunder is also great tool for gaining a critical understanding of global politics, and particularly of the biases and conflicts of interest embedded deep into the international economic institutions (such as the IMF or the World Bank), as well as of development issues. Last, but not least, the book is also very well-written and a wonderful read.

This book should be compulsory reading for any graduate student wishing to go further in the study of law & economics, or just for anyone wishing to take a peak to the "other side" of global economic development.

I'll admit, when I read the title of the book, I was hesitant with the book. To say the 'rule of law' is sometimes 'illegal' also suggests it holds some emancipatory potential whereas I'd be more prone to think that since the world is always juridical that law never offers any solution in itself - that the law always takes us outside itself for justification/action.

But this book is ultimately no simple project of recapturing international law's 'liberal' promises. Instead, through countless examples, Mattei and Nader's purpose seems, admirably, to try and reconnect us with the horrors of global inequality and remind us of the scandalous political character that so often lurks beneath seemingly benevolent / technocratic legal and economic manuevers. Ultimately the book lays its own foundation for future questions/programs about what must be done, what sort of program could we put forward to address 'plunder'.