Law, Democracy & Development

Aims & Scope

Law, Democracy & Development (LDD) is the journal of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape. The first issue appeared in May 1997. The journal set out to build on the proud traditions established by UWC and the Law Faculty in the struggle for democracy, with many of our staff and alumni having gone on to serve as ministers of state, judges of the highest courts and in other key positions in the post-apartheid dispensation. Our focus is on legal and socio-legal issues relevant to the development challenges facing South Africa and Africa – it is, above all, on nurturing institutions of governance through the promotion of human rights. From an academic perspective, LDD is thus not confined to any single area of law, nor to law in any narrow or technical sense, even though it consistently engages with the content and proper interpretation of the law. Over and above this, however , it is concerned with the role of every branch of law and legal institutions in promoting or obstructing democracy and development within a specific social context. As the 21st century unfolds, we believe that understanding law and governance in this sense is more important than ever in promoting a culture of accountability and respect for human rights across Africa. Given this focus, LDD has sought to engage with legal scholars in all African countries in order to stimulate discussion across national boundaries. To this end our printed version was circulated to law faculties and developmental agencies throughout Africa, and attracted an increasing number of contributions from other countries. By having gone online in 2010, LDD significantly increased its reach as well as its accessibility to scholars in Africa and beyond. Contributions are invited online (for more detail, see Guidelines for authors). LDD is a peer-reviewed journal and has been accredited by the Department of Education for the publication of subsidised research outputs since 2001. Mission statement The evolution and implementation of democracy, good governance, human rights and socio-economic development are critical issues facing South Africa and Africa as a whole. Our aim is to create a forum in which key aspects of these processes can be debated by scholars, practitioners as well as those concerned with policy-making across the continent, thus contributing to the development of shared knowledge and cooperative effort. The focus is on: the way that the law regulates important aspects of the economic process such as trade and industry, labour, the environment, education, training and culture; the protection and extension of rights which drive and mould socio-economic development such as political rights, gender rights, children's rights, labour rights and other rights which enable the individual to participate in civil society; and the influence of international and regional developments in the areas of policy and law on socio-economic development. Law, Democracy & Development analyses the evolution of the law in this context and the discourse surrounding its evolution. It examines legal rules with a view to establishing how effective they are in their own terms while, at the same time, scrutinising those terms themselves in a spirit of open-ended inquiry. The objective is to contribute not only to research but also to practical application of the relevant principles by the courts and to the ongoing debate on legal reform. Law, Democracy & Development is aimed at legal practitioners, academics, social scientists, students and all others engaged in the formulation and implementation of development policy within the framework of a democratic constitutional order.

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Subject Classification