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ID:
166099
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| Summary/Abstract |
What does the rule of law mean in the Chinese context? Based on empirical research in Beijing and Hong Kong, this article examines the various ways politically liberal lawyers in China make sense of the rule of law in their discourses and collective action. Although the rule of law is frequently invoked by lawyers as a legitimating discourse against the authoritarian state, its use in practice is primarily for instrumental purposes, as both a sword and a shield. For activist lawyers in Beijing, the pursuit of judicial independence is nothing but a distant dream involving a restructuring of the state, and they therefore focus their mobilisation for rule of law around basic legal freedoms and the growth of civil society. By contrast, Hong Kong lawyers hold the autonomy of their judiciary as a paramount value mainly because it is a powerful defensive weapon against Beijing’s political influence. The rule of law as a shield is only effective where its institutional and normative foundations are solid (as in Hong Kong), and it becomes little more than a blunt sword for lawyers where such foundations are weak or missing (as in mainland China).
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| 2 |
ID:
175162
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| Summary/Abstract |
Where popular contention in China is concerned, third parties are not merely supporters of protesters but also allies of the state. Through quantitative and qualitative methods, this article uses an actor-centred perspective to explore the dual role of Chinese lawyers in state dispute resolution projects. When providing legal counselling services to the public, lawyers adopt selective strategies and channel non-political cases into legal channels while keeping political cases within the political arena. When handling social disputes for the government, however, they apply professional diagnoses and legal persuasion, and intervene through mediation and negotiation. Three factors constrain the effectiveness of Chinese lawyers during dispute resolution. These are the limited access to cases, the dilemmas inherent in acting simultaneously both as a third party and as a state agent, and the restricted influence of lawyers over the final resolution of social disputes. This article argues that the selective responses of Chinese lawyers during legal counselling and strategic defence of state power in dispute resolution make them a governance tool for stability maintenance. Their participation contributes more to legal repression than to legal development in contemporary China.
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| 3 |
ID:
113662
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| 4 |
ID:
096211
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| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
I am pleased to be part of this symposium to celebrate the life and work of Peter Bachrach. Although my focus is the relevance of Peter's ideas of power to law, I want to begin with some personal comments as well as raise some final thoughts, drawing on others' contributions. Like so many of Peter's other students, I adored him. Peter's joy in ideas, his passion for participatory democracy, his love of teaching, and his extraordinary capacity to listen to students were infectious. As others have said, he lit up every room that he was in. He inspired me to become a civil rights lawyer and law professor and to teach, write, and advocate about issues that he cared about.
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| 5 |
ID:
102273
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