The World Bank’s Sustainable Development Approach and the Need for a Unified Field of Law and Development Studies in Argentina

This paper argues that the World Bank’s adoption of the principle of sustainable development is an example of the persistence of the law and development approach. Indeed, the World Bank’s interpretation of the principle translates into its projects; through soft law and loan conditionality, it applies to the borrower and regulates behaviors at the country level. This potentially results in the legal transplantation of a cross-culturally valid principle. The paper will present a case study of the sustainable development principle’s application by the World Bank in Argentina: the “Riachuelo-Matanza Basin Sustainable Development Project”. Given the difficulties of implementing the project, the paper makes the case that, to bridge the gaps described by Trubek and Galanter, Argentina needs scholars specialized in law and development as a unified field in order to fine-tune the development approach of international development actors to national realities and thus create a real impact.