Natural Law Theory,Legal Positivism,and the Normativity of Law

This essay examines two dominant traditions in legal philosophy, the natural law theory and legal positivism, in terms of how they account for the normativity of law. I argue that, although these two traditions generally take the question of the normativity of law seriously and try to account for it, they are not successful in doing so. This failure in the prevailing literature on the philosophy of law, I suggest, nevertheless has an implicit reconstructive impact: the insights into the failure of natural law theory and legal positivism imply an alternative philosophical framework that may provide a positive answer to the question of the normativity of law.     

China and India: The Institutional Roots of Differential Performance

At the start of the so‐called development race sixty years ago, China, showcasing revolutionary socialism, and India, boasting parliamentary democracy, had close similarities in economic structures and levels of development, but striking differences in terms of cultural cohesion, institutional flexibility and political orientation. The outcome of the race is unambiguous: the question is not who won, but why and how? It is argued here that a wide margin had already opened up in China's favour by the time of the systemic or policy‐regime switch‐points, 1978 in China, and shortly thereafter in India. The author seeks explanations for this differential performance in the divergent institutional configurations of the two societies and economies, especially in the rural sector in the pre‐reform period, and highlights the contrast between the power of the Chinese mass mobilization mode of transformation and the persistent institutional rigidities and obstacles in the Indian case. Post‐reforms, processes of ‘pervergence’— an emerging congruence in negative social features — appear to dominate over tendencies towards conventional convergence. The author reflects on the historical significance of the two development paths: did Nehruvian state‐led planned development and Maoist socialism serve essentially as pioneers of capitalism, leveraging the re‐launching of the two once‐powerful Asian giants back into the global capitalist game on dramatically revised terms of engagement?     

The Gender Sensitivity of Well-being Indicators

This article assesses the gender sensitivity of indicators of health, nutrition, education, and composite indices which are relevant to developing countries, using the analytical framework of ‘functionings’. It finds that a disaggregated under-10 female–male ratio (0–4 years and 5–9 years) appears to be a suitable indicator for health. Difficulties with data collection and interpretation reduce the reliability of indicators of morbidity and nutrition intake. Nutrition outcome indicators like anthropometric measures are potentially useful, if genetic differences between population groups as well as between males and females are controlled for. In assessing gender gaps in education, enrolment and drop-out ratios are more useful than adult literacy or mean years of schooling, but micro-level research is required to decide which of these two is better. Composite indices like the Physical Quality of Life Index and Gender-related Development Index are potentially useful, given some alterations to increase their relevance to developing countries.     

Absorbing External Shocks: The Gulf Crisis,International Migration Linkages and the Indian Economy, 1990 (with special reference to the impact on Kerala)

The paper analyses the impact of the Gulf crisis on the Indian economy as a whole, on the state of Kerala which was the origin of the majority of the Indian migrants in Kuwait and Iraq, and on the returning migrants them- selves. The scale of the disturbances is estimated both with respect to the labour market, as well as the flow of remittances. Alternative policy responses are discussed, especially in the context of the Kerala economy, and the problem is viewed separately from the vantage point of the returning migrants, as well as that of the State Government. The effects of the crisis become more acute as the focus shifts from the level of the macroeconomy, to the state of Kerala, to the migrants themselves.