Mattei and Nader on "Plunder" and the Rule of Law

Ugo Mattei and Laura Nader (Professor of Anthropology, UC Berkeley) have just published "Plunder: When the Rule of Law is Illegal" (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). Here is the abstract:
"Plunder examines the dark side of the Rule of Law and explores how it has been used as a powerful political weapon by Western countries in order to legitimize plunder -- the practice of violent extraction by stronger political actors victimizing weaker ones. Mattei and Nader provide global examples of plunder: of oil in Iraq; of ideas in the form of Western patents and intellectual property rights imposed on weaker peoples; and of liberty in the United States. They challenge traditionally held beliefs in the sanctity of the Rule of Law by exposing its dark side, and ultimately dare to ask the paradoxical question -- is the Rule of Law itself illegal?"
Ugo will be presenting the book on March 31 at the Italian Academy, Columbia University; on April 1 at the Yale Law School and then at the Yale Department of Anthropology; on April 2 at the Boston University Law School; and April 3 at the Harvard Law School.