About the Conference
The ever increasing interaction between global legal policy processes and institutions with the domestic ones have renewed the interest of governments, the legal community, policy makers and researchers to examine the role of law and possibilities of reform to meet the objectives of development challenges and inclusive growth. Research in the field of law and development, over about three quarters of a century, has unambiguously established that law plays an emphatic role in addressing the challenges related to economic development, growth and distributive equality in the countries of the Global South and elsewhere. Law and development research sits at the cross junction of disciplines as varied as economics, sociology, political science, cultural studies and many more, including law. Without doubt it is truly an interdisciplinary field of study.
The Law and DevelopmentResearch Network (LDRN)was set up to “enhance knowledge and understanding of the role of law, both domestic and international, in relation to development and governance, as perceived globally and locally, and is therefore concerned with the social functioning of legal systems primarily in the context of countries in the Global south”.
The National Law University, Delhi, as a leading law university of the Global South, is proud to host the NLUD-LDRN 6th General Conference at the National Law University Delhi, India, between 19 — 21 August 2023.The Centre for Law, Justice and Development at the National Law University, Delhi is a partner of the LDRN.
The Conference will present a unique opportunity for scholars from South Asia to share their ideas regardingthe development challenges of the region with scholars from other parts of the Global South and North. The Conference will further serve as an opportunity to forge academic and research partnerships among the participating scholars and institutions.
The 6th Conference of LDRN, hosted by the National Law University, Delhi, is taking place in the context of pull and pressure of globalisation and localisation. While globalisation produces homogenisation and sameness, localisation produces uniqueness and differentiation. The simultaneous but paradoxical processes of globalisation and localisation have created deep ambivalences in the trajectories of law, justice and development in the countries of the Global South. They are often unpredictable, contradictory, plural and heterogeneous. Therefore, the real challenge before the academia and researchers engaged with the various
facets of law and development is how to address and achieve justice for the people. Some of these issues will be discussed during the Conference. The Conference will take place in the blended mode to enable broad based participation.
Conference Theme: Locating Justice
The Conference will discuss a wide variety of themes and subjects relevant to law and development, including the following areas:
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Law, development and beyond: theoretical considerations, mapping challenges and alternatives;
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Development, justice and human rights: socio-economic rights including water and sanitation rights and the right to development;
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Climate justice;
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Gender justice;
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Disability rights and justice;
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Law and justice for indigenous people, including tribal people of India;
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Globalisation , corporations, law and development;
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Suffering, injustice and the dialectics of law and development;
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Democracy, digitalisation, development and law;
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International law, institutional governance and development.
The themes and subjects of the Conference are sufficiently broad to allow for as many submissions as possible. However, NLUD and LDRN reserve the right to select papers for final presentation at the Conference. The final papers will also be grouped in tracks (about 6- 8 taking into account the selection process) besides the opening and valedictory sessions.
Call for Papers
There will be four (exceptionally five) papers per panel to give presenters and discussants adequate time to engage fruitfully. In preparing the abstracts of their proposed papers, we encourage prospective participants to engage with issues related to law and development as highlighted in the conference theme.
In addition to the general call for individual papers, we also encourage individuals to organise their own panels by coordinating with colleagues, preferably from other NLUD and LDRN institutions, and along the subject of the Conference. This will allow for more cohesive panels and will foster greater collaboration among academics, which is one of the key aims of the NLUD-LDRN conference. However, the organisers reserve the right to make changes to the panel allocation.
Selection Criteria
The papers will be selected on a competitive basis. The selection process will be carried out jointly by a group of senior academics involved with law and development. The application and selection criteria will be based on the following:
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Quality of the abstract;
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Relevance to law and development and the broad theme of the Conference;
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Geographic diversity of participants and presenters;
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Balance between senior and junior participants and presenters;
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Participants must be professors at a university, or Ph.D. holders or candidates.
Exceptionally, we may consider excellent submissions by full-time researchers from LDRN partner institutions, which should hold at least an LL.M. Submissions from practitioners in the field of development who pursue research, are also welcome.
Guidelines for Submission
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The deadline to submit individual abstracts is 7 March 2023. However, an extension of one week until 15 March will be given to abstract
submissions. Abstracts received after the submission deadline may be declined.
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Please submit your abstract online using this link: https://forms.gle/Nf9s3p8pLBgkwoSU7
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Participants will be notified in early April 2023 on the status of their submission. Accepted abstracts will be notified through email.It is important that you provide a valid email address with each abstract submission. Upon acceptance of abstracts, full papers must be submitted by 30 June 2023.
Abstracts Format
Abstracts shall not exceed 500 words. Abstracts should be submitted with particulars on the above link. The abstract should be in Times New Roman, font size 12, with 1.5 lines spacing, and footnotes (if any) in Times New Roman, font size 10, with single line spacing. The texts and footnotes must conform to OSCOLA 4th Edition, 2012.
Only one co-authorship is allowed. The abstract should be followed by an outline of the article with a brief discussion. The submission of the abstract must be in (.doc) or (.docx). The submission should contain a disclaimer to the effect that the piece is original and has not been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere. All submissions are subject to a plagiarism check.
Paper Format
Upon selection, participants shall submit a full paper in the format prescribed. The length of the full paper, including tables, diagrams, illustrations, references, etc., shall not be less than 3000 words and shall not exceed 7000 words. The paper should be in (.doc) or (.docx) format. Font should be Times New Roman 12-point font with 1.5 line spacing. Footnotes shall be in Times New Roman 10 point font with single-line spacing. All citations should
be placed in footnotes (and not endnotes) and shall conform to the OSCOLA 4thEdition, 2012. Only one co-authorship is allowed. The submission should contain a disclaimer to the effect that the piece is original and has not been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Venue, Accommodation and Costs
The National Law University, Delhi will be the main venue for the Conference. The University is located close to the international airport of Delhi and is well connected to the city centre by Delhi Metro Service. The National Law University has a small guest house with limited accommodation available for international participants. Professors travelling to Delhi for the Conference will be given priority. We regret our inability to provide accommodation and cover the travel costs of all participants.
Nearby hotels and accommodation: ITC Hotels, Radisson Blu Hotel, Southwest Inn. are some of the hotels in the vicinity of the University that the participants can book themselves for their stay in Delhi.
Registration Fee
The registration fee for the Conference is $50 for international participants and Rs.3000/- for local participants. All international and local PhD candidates (and masters level students) will get to participate in the Conference at 50% of the conference fee. Only final paper presenters will be required to pay the conference participation fee. A link for online payment will be sent to the paper presenters at a later date.
Organising Committee:
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Prof.(Dr.) Harpreet Kaur, Vice Chancellor, NLU, Delhi, India;
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Prof. (Dr.) Maheshwar Singh, NLU, Delhi, India (Conference Coordinator);
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Prof (Dr.) Koen De Feyeter, Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp, Belgium;
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Prof. Joanna Botha, Professor of Law, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa;
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Prof. C. Ignacio de Casas, Academic Secretary, Faculty of Law, Universidad Austral, Argentina.
Contact:nlud.ldrn@nludelhi.ac.in
*N.B: The program details as well as the panels will be published on the university web page well before the conference.
