ABSTRACT
The Chad Pipeline Project was founded on the assumption that when subjected to law-like systems of rules and procedures an extractive industry project could serve as the foundation for poverty reduction. This assumption conflated the rule of law with market-oriented mechanisms on the grounds that the latter would impartially adjudicate among competing claims toward the common good. As it was deployed, however, the rule of law was a conjecture, a logical construction intended to eliminate social frictions that would adversely affect the smooth exploitation of oil. Its goal was to create a sense of legitimacy and an aura of consent—objectives that had little to do with poverty reduction. In this sense, the rule of law was and remains a metaphor of state, corporate, and global governance.
