Juan Obarrio is assistant professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University.
Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws takes novel turns in Mozambique. This anthropological study, spiced by a philosophical touch, magnificently explores local appropriations of a national law reform in the turmoil of the post-Cold War moment. The revival of customary law, deeply affected by socialism but now in a neoliberal context, produces hybrids that help people to steer their lives through great uncertainties. A challenging study that opens up new perspectives for understanding the 'structural adjustment state' and its uneasy compromises with rapidly evolving customary practices. --Peter Geschiere, author of Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust