Larry Catá Backer

Larry Catá Backer (born 1 February 1955) is a Cuban-American legal scholar and professor of law and international affairs. He holds a professorship at the Penn State University, and is the W. Richard and Mary Eshelman Faculty Scholar Professor of Law and International Affairs, Penn State Law and School of International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University (2001–),[1] Ashgate Publishing Globalization Law & Policy Series editor (2010–), and the executive director of the Washington-based NGO Coalition for Peace and Ethics (2006–).[2][3]

Larry Catá Backer

A prominent comparative corporate and international law scholar [4][5] and a leading researcher in constitutional law,[6][7][8] Professor Backer is a member of the American Law Institute and the European Corporate Governance Institute. He has served as a grant peer reviewer for The Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law in the Netherlands, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and others.[9]

Background and education

Backer was born in Cuba and moved to Miami, FL at an early age after the Cuban Revolution of 1959.[10] Backer was educated at Columbia University School of Law (JD 1982), Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government (MPP 1979) and Brandeis University (BA in history 1977).[11]

Career

After law school and a clerkship with Judge Leonard I. Garth (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit) Backer was in private practice in Los Angeles, California. Backer joined the Penn State Law faculty in 2000, after having served as professor of law and executive director of the Center for International and Comparative Law of the University of Tulsa College of Law. He has visited at the Tulane Law School (2007–2008) and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (1998). Professor Backer has lectured and taught on public and private law aspects of globalization in a number of countries in Latin America, Asia and Europe. He founded and sponsors the Penn State Latina/o Law Students Association.[9]

In 2006, Backer founded the Coalition for Peace and Ethics, an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and information focused organization based in Washington, D.C.[12][13] As part of its research mission, CPE sponsors research oriented working papers, preliminary scientific or technical paper. The authors of these working papers have released them to share ideas about a topic or to elicit feedback before submitting to a peer reviewed conference or academic journal. These working papers are preliminary versions that are being shared to a broad research community, with the aim of contributing to scholarly debate and soliciting constructive feedback.[14]

Backer is also a member of the American Law Institute and the European Corporate Governance Institute. He served as the chair of the Penn State University Faculty Senate for 2012–2013.[1]

Scholarship

Constitutionalism

For his work on transnational constitutionalism, Backer has argued that after World War II, transnational constitutionalism embraced universal human rights as the core feature that emerged with the introduction of post-conflict German and Japanese constitutions. He also has examined the emergence of theocratic constitutionalism starting from the Iranian 1979 constitution. Backer argues that constitutionalism is the legal process in which each state harmonizes with international norms and laws.[15] Backer is well known for his works on Chinese constitutionalism.[7] According to Backer, China is evolving towards a "single party constitutionalist state" that is grounded in its unique form of "party-state constitutionalism." Backer argued that the Chinese constitutionalist state differs from the Western model in that the CCP plays a central role in the Chinese constitutional order.[7][16] In order to articulate his conception of the Chinese "single-party constitutionalist state" as a new model of constitutionalist governance, Backer delineated the history for the Chinese state-party system that began from Mao Zedong, and was subsequently improved and strengthened through the works of Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao. Backer acknowledged that Mao Zedong Thought has had a profound impact on the shaping of China's constitutionalist system, especially in regard to the idea of the Party's role as an outsider. "The CCP was not merely a vanguard party, but for a long time a revolutionary party. Even after the end of the civil war, the CCP continued to think of itself as outside the apparatus." Therefore, in terms of the relationship between the CCP and the state, there was a lengthy process of internalization where the Party as an outsider became internalized into the state through its Mass Line.[17]

Corporate and Transnational Law

Backer has also written extensively on the imposition of binding human rights norms on multinational corporations, where "the norms internationalize and adopt an enterprise liability model as the basis for determining the scope of liability for groups of related companies. This approach ... eliminates one of the greatest complaints about globalization through large webs of interconnected but legally independent corporations forming one large enterprise."[18] Backer is also known for his work on the Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), where he suggested that states have deployed their private global investments (SWFs) as instruments for public global governance.[19]

Bibliography

Gods Over Constitution: Transnational Constitutionalism in the 21st century (Surry, Eng.: Ashgate Publishing, forthcoming 2013) ISBN 978-0-7546-7859-5.

Lawyers Making Meaning: The Semiotics of Law in Legal Education II (Dordrecht: Springer, 2012) (with Jan M. Broekman). ISBN 978-9400754577.

Harmonizing Law in an Era of Globalization: Convergence, Divergence, Resistance (Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2007) ISBN 0-89089-585-6 (editor and contributor).

Comparative Corporate Law: United States, European Union, China and Japan (Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2002) ISBN 0-89089-526-0; LCCN 2001088034.

Multinational Corporations, Transnational Law: The United Nation's Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations as Harbinger of Corporate Responsibility in International Law Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Vol. 37, 2005

Sovereign Wealth Funds as Regulatory Chameleons: The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Funds and Public Global Governance Through Private Global Investment Georgetown Journal of International Law, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2009

The Rule of Law, the Chinese Communist Party, and Ideological Campaigns: Sange Daibiao (the 'Three Represents'), Socialist Rule of Law, and Modern Chinese Constitutionalism Journal of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2006

Multinational Corporations as Objects and Sources of Transnational Regulation ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2008

The Private Law of Public Law: Public Authorities as Shareholders, Golden Shares, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and the Public Law Element in Private Choice of Law Tulane Law Review, Vol. 82, No. 1, 2008

Notes
  1. "Faculty Page – Larry Catá Backer". Penn State Law. Archived from the original on 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2013-05-15.
  2. "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). SelectedWorks.
  3. "An interview with Larry Catá Backer – series editor for Globalization: Law and Policy". Ashgate Publishing.
  4. Robson, Ruthann (April 1, 2011). "Sexuality and Law – Volume III: Sexual Freedom Preface and Introduction". Library of Essays in Sexuality and Law: xix–xx. SSRN 1805886.
    Prominent Sexuality and Law scholar Larry Catá Backer, also known for his international and comparative law work, has considered the conflation of gender and male homosexuality in the context of several notorious incidents in 'Emasculated Men, Effeminate Law in the United States, Zimbabwe and Malaysia.
  5. Ruthann, Robson (August 1, 1997). "Continuing the Civil Rights Struggle: Ends & Means: Beginning From (My) Experience: The Paradoxes of Lesbian/Queer Narrativities". Hastings Law Journal. 0017-8322. 48: 1399–1400. While there are no previous specifically lesbian pieces, queer scholarly contributions have been made by Marc Fajer, n56 William Eskridge, n57 and most recently Larry Cata Backer.
  6. "Penn State University – Dickinson School of Law: The Faculty". LLM Guide.
  7. Schwinn, Steven D. "Daily Read: Larry Catá Backer on Chinese Constitutionalism". Constitutional Law Prof Blog. Law Professor Blogs Network. For ConLaw comparativists, Backer's article is essential reading: it situates Chinese constitutionalism in global contexts and more importantly, evaluates its various aspects in comparison to each other. For ConLawProfs who may not consider themselves comparativists, Backer's article may be even more essential. Backer's exploration is theoretically sophisticated, nuanced, and guaranteed to enrich any reader's thinking about the role of any constitution in any nation, including the United States.
  8. Gabilondo, Jose (2008). "Monetizing diaspora: liquid sovereigns, fertile workers, and the interest-convergence around remittance flows.(response to article by Larry Cata Backer in this issue, p. 521)(Symposium: Reifying Law – Rule of Law, Government, the State and Transnational Governance)". Penn State International Law Review. 26 (3): 653.
  9. "School of International Affairs – Faculty". Penn State University.
  10. "Backer-in-Law | About Me".
  11. "Biography". European Corporate Governance Institute.
  12. "Directory". Chamberofcommerce.com.
  13. "About us". CPE.
  14. Backer, Larry Catá (2008). "God(s) Over Constitutions: International and Religious Transnational Constitutionalism in the 21st Century". Mississippi College Law ReviewC. 27. Both systems of transborder constitutional legitimacy produce complex frameworks of behavior rules (systems of morals and ethics). Each competes with the other for dominion over the construction of governments. States are meant to choose from amongst these and, having chosen a system of substantive constitutional values, thereafter internalize those international constitutional norms within their national legal orders. The heart of this exploration is thus on "constitutionalism" as an aspect of legal universalism. Consequently, the emphasis will be on the nexus of constitutionalism, globalism and religion in the construction and limitations of constitutions imposed from outside any single state.
  15. 强世功/Jiang, Shigong (December 2012). 中国宪政模式？—巴克尔对中国"一党宪政"体制的研究 [Chinese-Style of Constitutionalism: On Backer's Chinese Party-State Constitutionalism]. 《中外法学》/Peking University Law Journal (in Chinese). http://journal.pkulaw.cn/JournalDetails.aspx?id=159392: Peking University Center for Legal Information (2012–6). 无论讨论中国模式，还是讨论当代中国政治秩序，独特之处首先就在于中国共产党的领导。在美国学者巴克尔（Larry Catá Backer）看来，中国共产党构成了中国宪政制度的核心，中国由此形成不同于西方自由宪政模式的"党国宪政模式"，即"一党宪政国"（a single party constitutionalist state）。CS1 maint: location (link)
  16. 强世功/Jiang, Shigong (December 2012). 中国宪政模式？—巴克尔对中国"一党宪政"体制的研究 [Chinese-Style of Constitutionalism: On Backer's Chinese Party-State Constitutionalism]. 《中外法学》/Peking University Law Journal (in Chinese). http://journal.pkulaw.cn/JournalDetails.aspx?id=159392: Peking University Center for Legal Information (2012–6). 为了阐述"一党宪政国"这种党国宪政体制的新模式，巴克尔勾画出从毛泽东奠基、经过邓小平、江泽民和胡锦涛的不断巩固和深化的党国宪政体制，使得其中一些关键性要素获得了充分的发展。巴克尔认为，毛泽东的政治思想深刻地塑造了中国的宪政体制。其中最重要的就是关于党的思想，即中国共产党处于外在者的位置上。"中国共产党不仅是一个先锋队政党，而且在很长时间里是革命党。即使在国共内战结束之后，中国共产党继续认为自己外在于国家机器。" 因此，在处理党和国家的关系上，就出现了党从国家之外转向国家之内的漫长过程，其中的政治动荡就与这种转型有关。党在国家之外就意味着强调无产阶级专政，强调群众路线CS1 maint: location (link)
  17. Ruggie, John (2013). Just Business: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights. New York: W.W. Norton. pp. 188–189. ISBN 9780393062885. The attempt by the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights to impose binding Norms on multinational corporations, which preceded my mandate, aimed a silver bullet at the problem. But it turned out to be a dud. Larry Cata Backer, a legal scholar who has written extensively on this subject, observed at the time that the norms internationalize and adopt an enterprise liability model as the basis for determining the scope of liability for groups of related companies. This approach ... eliminates one of the greatest complaints about globalization through large webs of interconnected but legally independent corporations forming one large enterprise.
  18. Bassan, Fabio (2011). The Law of Sovereign Wealth Funds. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 21–23. ISBN 9780857932358. According to most of the observers, the main characteristics that differentiate the former (SWFs) from the latter (SOEs) are the source of their funding... . ..Conversely, one author (Larry Cata Backer) concludes that in spite of the differences, a regulatory standard should be reached that may neutralize the choice by the states to use a vehicle rather than another. He suggests to replace the traditional distinction between public and private with that of regulation and participation, applying the same rules to SOEs and SWFs abroad, where states are only operators and can not regulate."
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