LAW, LAWYERS AND SOCIAL CAPITAL - RULE OF LAW VERSUS RELATIONAL CAPITALISM

This re-examination of the relationship between law and business, and how it may be changing in relation to internationalization, responds e specially to some proponents of relational capitalism as an alternativ e to law or Weberian capitalism, particularly in Asia. It rejects the conceptualization as a dichotomy of the relationship between technical legal knowledge and relational or familial resources, and suggests th at such theories may be traced to the contexts in which the prevailing sociolegal examinations of that relationship were constructed, linkin g them in particular to sociolegal scholar ship in the United States. It provides examples from case studies based on the authors' research in Mexico, and a rereading of the literature on Japan, and concludes w ith a fresh look at the questions of whether and, if so, why, the expo rt of the US-style 'rule of law' may be gaining ground in new and old frontiers.