2009 Edward S. Corwin Award

Awarded for the best dissertation completed in the field of public law.

Award Committee: Lisa Conant, Chair, University of Denver; Doris Marie Provine, Arizona State University; and James R. Stoner, Jr., Louisiana State University

Recipient: Mark Massoud, Stanford University

Dissertation Title: “Who Rules the Law? How Government, Civil Society, and Aid Agencies Manipulate Law in Sudan”

Dissertation Chair: Malcolm Feeley, University of California, Berkeley

Citation: Mark Massoud is the winner of the 2009 Edward S. Corwin award for the best doctoral dissertation completed in the field of public law within the past two years. In his thesis, titled, "Who Rules the Law? How Government, Aid Agencies, and Civil Society Manipulate Law in Sudan," Massoud contributes to our understanding of the role of law and human rights ideals in struggling states. Even in one of the world’s most failed states, the thesis shows that law can be strategically employed by a variety of actors including colonial administrators, political and military leaders, opposition parties, tribal and customary authorities, international NGOs, and the international community.

Drawing on Arabic and English sources from colonial archives, libraries, and interviews in Britain, Egypt, and Sudan, Massoud reveals that law and human rights ideals can be important symbolic resources, but not always in the beneficial ways that are often assumed. The Corwin award Committee, composed of Lisa Conant, Doris Marie Provine, and James R. Stoner, Jr., was particularly impressed with how Massoud linked themes important to public-law scholarship and the socio-legal studies movement, recognizing the importance of legal institutions, while working within the broader tradition of socially embedded law. Methodologically sophisticated, the thesis recognizes the significance of the investigator's own presence in the observation of events, and the importance of alerting the reader to the writer's position in the study. The author’s pursuit of this project, with over a year of field research in Sudan, demonstrates courage and tenacity in the face of difficult and often tragic circumstances.