ABSTRACT
The attachment to the juridicity of non-State normative phenomena might originate in a demand for law that emanates from an external authority, which in many cases is the State. There is normative relevance in dissecting the body of legal pluralism, in drawing up an inventory of its features, and in uncovering its living manifestations in concrete geographies, in concrete power and cultural relations, and in complex situations marked by unexpected and constantly shifting realities. The process of dissection and inventory helps us see and question assumptions, strategies, and programs, and highlights cognitive gaps or biases that might explain, motivate, or justify the positions of the actors in a pluralist context. The first current of prescriptive discourse is perfectly illustrated in the reasoning taking place in international development organizations – including “legal development” organizations – active in regions marked by endemic poverty and conflict.
