The International Politics of Legal Reforms: Hard Bilateralism, Soft Multilateralism and the World Bank’s “Doing Business” Indicators

Abstract The Law and Development literature still debates on the role of international institutions in promoting legal reforms as a means of inducing economic growth. This article takes one step further by arguing that incremental circumstances compelled such institutions to change from bilaterally-binding pressures to soft-based multilateral strategies, by analyzing the gradual rise of the World Bank’s “Doing Business” initiative.