David A. Westbrook

David Albert Westbrook is a German-born American author, academic and legal expert.

He is Louis A. Del Cotto professor and co-directs the NYC Program in Finance and Law at the University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York.

Westbrook writes on the social and intellectual consequences of contemporary political economy as expressed in corporations and finance, international law, globalization and social theory.

Westbrook has authored several books including City Of Gold: An Apology for Global Capitalism in a Time of Discontent, Navigators of the Contemporary: Why Ethnography Matters, and Getting Through Security: Counterterrorism, Bureaucracy, and a Sense of the Modern.

In the wake of the financial crisis, Westbrook spoke about political economy and the fragilities of capitalism in China, Pakistan, Jamaica, Brazil and Portugal.

Westbrook received his B.A. degree in German Studies in 1988 from Emory University, where he was a Woodruff Scholar.

He studied with and worked as a Research Associate for Harold J. Berman at Emory University Law School.

In 1992, he received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, where he was a Ford Fellow in Public International Law.

Westbrook wrote his thesis and was a teaching assistant for Mary Ann Glendon.

Westbrook clerked at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from 1993 till 1995 for Judge S. Jay Plager and then worked as an Associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

He joined the University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York, as an Associate Professor in 1998 and was promoted to Professor in 2004.

Westbrook published his book, City Of Gold: An Apology for Global Capitalism in a Time of Discontent in 2003.

The book was reviewed as "a powerful demonstration of the limits at which global capitalism may be seen as an effective and efficient way of organizing economic interaction in our cosmopolitan society."

According to E. Fuat Keyman, "In City of Gold, Westbrook makes a significant contribution to the literature on globalization by going beyond a purely market-based or a state-centric analysis of social change".

After the Global Financial Crisis, Westbrook focused on the failures of classical economic thought, and discussed new ways to regulate financial markets

During his term at the University, Westbrook was appointed as Floyd H. and Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar from 2007 till 2013.

His book, Navigators of the Contemporary: Why Ethnography Matters (2009), considers the refunctioning of ethnography to address modern life, and was written out of conversation with the anthropologists George Marcus and Douglas Holmes.

Werner Kraus wrote: "The transition from admiration of the ethnographic method per se to an exploration of multisited fieldwork and the paraethnographic is fluent and often enough brilliant."

According to Tobias Rees, "the book is the result of the anthropologists' effort to engage the paraethnographer in a discussion about anthropology and its current dilemma."

In "Critical Issues for Qualitative Research", Westbrook discussed changes in the institutional meaning of the University, and consequences for the humanities and the social sciences.

Westbrook has also conducted research on international law, focusing especially on security, environment, and Islam.

He focused on sustainable development and discussed the visions of history and the pragmatism of environmentalists.

He presented his ideas regarding sustainability and stressed upon sustainable development as a pragmatic concept.

In the early 2010s, he authored a paper discussing the economy of North Atlantic countries and highlighted the presented approaches for collective thinking and decision making.

Westbrook focused on three movements and discussed the various methods for forming an elite consensus along with the relevant major conceptual obstacles.

In 2010, Westbrook published his book, Out of Crisis: Rethinking Our Financial Markets', which was reviewed as "a fascinating new book" which "is a compelling and entertaining diatribe against some of the sacred cows of finance."

Mae Kuykendall reviewed that "Westbrook draws on his wide knowledge of law, finance, literary theory, cultural anthropology, and political history to guide us through our recent disaster."

Westbrook's work on corporations and finance also includes his book, Between Citizen and State: An Introduction to the Corporation.

Westbrook also considers what it means to be an intellectual under contemporary circumstances.

In 2011, Westbrook published Deploying Ourselves: Islamist Violence, Globalization, and the Responsible Projection of U.S. Force.

He became Louis A. Del Cotto Professor in 2013.

Westbrook has conducted research on corporations and finance, international law and globalization, political economy and social theory.

He has also published various works on the significance of developments in the equity markets and corporate governance, in order to facilitate understanding of commercial society.

Westbrook has researched on political economy and discussed the contextual changes in politics and highlighted how globalization affected the law.