“Rule of law” with Chinese characteristics: Evolution and manipulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome A Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
Rule By Law ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
Party Chief ◽  
Socialist Rule Of Law

Abstract Government under law or law under government? Rule of law or rule by law? That was the hotly debated constitutional law topic in China during the last two decades of the twentieth century. In her article, “Shifting Meanings of Fazhi and China’s Journey toward Socialist Rule of Law”, Professor Ye gives us a careful and thoughtful analysis of relevant developments that includes the decisive outcome reinforced by current Communist Party chief Xi Jinping. Drawing upon China’s imperial traditions and dictatorial Legalist philosophy, Xi wields law as an instrument of comprehensive official power, although in practice his repression strays into Communist lawlessness.

scholarly journals The Changing Perspectives of Chinese Law: Socialist Rule of Law, Emerging Case Law and the Belt and Road Initiative

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-175
Author(s):  
Lu Xu
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Rule By Law ◽  
Chinese Law ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
Socialist Rule Of Law

Abstract This article identifies and clarifies some of the miscommunication between Chinese and English in the discussion of rule of law or rule by law. “Rule by law” is not a concept readily understandable by a Chinese audience because there is no acceptable translation or equivalent in Chinese. At the same time, the historical and contextual significance of the different denotations of “rule of law” in Chinese is often overlooked in an English-speaking environment. Meanwhile, the abstraction in critical examination of Chinese law often masks significant changes taking place in China’s construction of a “socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics”, such as the emergence of a system of case law. The different components and aspects of such a system, ranging from the guidance cases system published by the Supreme People’s Court, to the largest database of judicial decisions in the world, and the newly established China International Commercial Court under the Belt and Road Initiative could fundamentally alter and structure, nature and principles of Chinese law as we know it.

Law According to the Chinese Communist Party: Constitutionalism and Socialist Rule of Law

Modern China ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ding Xiaodong
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Political Concept ◽  
The People ◽  
State Regime ◽  
The Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Socialist Rule Of Law ◽  
Party State

This article argues that the Chinese Communist Party has adopted a unique understanding of law. Unlike the liberal view and the unwritten constitution view, which generally consider law as positive norms that exist independently of politics, the party understands law as a reflection of the party’s and the people’s will and a form of the party’s and the people’s self-discipline. In the party’s view, liberal rule of law theories are self-contradictory, illusive, and meaningless. This article argues that the party views the people as a political concept and itself as a political leading party, marking a fundamental difference from a competitive party in a parliamentary system. The legitimacy of the party’s dominant role and the party-state regime, therefore, depends on whether the party can continue to provide political momentum to lead the people and represent them in the future.

scholarly journals China after Reform: The Ideological, Constitutional, and Organisational Makings of a New Era

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Holbig
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
Personal Power ◽  
New Era ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Chinese Characteristics

In late 2017, the Chinese Communist Party proclaimed the “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” Most observers interpreted this step as just another update of the party's ideological canon to accommodate Xi's ambition to increase his personal power, following in the footsteps of Mao Zedong. This contribution argues that we can achieve a better understanding of the claim about a “new era,” if this claim is analysed diachronically as an ongoing process of constructing “chrono-ideological narratives” that link past and future, as well as synchronically in the larger context of recent constitutional and organisational changes. It finds that the “new era” discourse might, in the longer term, have ramifications not only for China's domestic politics but also for the country's self-image in the international arena too.

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