Book Launch of Democracy and Rule of Law in China's Shadow

Speakers: Jimmy Chia-Shin Hsu, Brian Christopher Jones, Kuan Hsiaowei

This session will be held using Microsoft Teams. Click the LINK to join.

Abstract

This book provides detailed insight into some of the most contentious events occurring in jurisdictions operating within China's vast shadow. Epic clashes between law and politics have become a regular fixture throughout the world, and no region has seen more of these than Asia. In some cases these conflicts have involved newfound democratic aspirations or democratic deepening, while in others it has arisen because of pushback against authoritarian or semi-authoritarian governments. Indeed, many of these clashes centre on or involve the region's most powerful and controversial player: China. This book focuses on several of these critical struggles, examining how democracy and the rule of law play out in a number of jurisdictions highly influenced by China's presence. Chapters provide insightful analysis on issues such as: major threats to the rule of law and attempts to uphold the principle, oath-taking controversies, foreign judges and the disparagement of the judiciary, unconstitutional and undemocratic provisions, changing ideas of representation, a right to democracy in international law, same-sex marriage rights, and the legal responses to civil disobedience in Taiwan and Hong Kong, among other topics. Ultimately, the book delivers a contemporary understanding of how democracy and the rule of law both complement and converge in this fascinating region.

Speakers' Bios

Jimmy Chia-Shin Hsu is Associate Research Professor at Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, and Adjunct Associate Professor at National Yangming Chiaotung University School of Law. He received his LL.B. from National Taiwan University, LL.M. from National Chengchi University, another LL.M. and J.S.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He is the ASLI fellow of the National University of Singapore Law Faculty in 2016 and Visiting Scholar of Harvard Yenching Institute 2016-2017.His research interests include legal philosophy, comparative constitutional law, and philosophy of punishment. He is a board member of Taiwan Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, and he is the co-convener of the Free of Speech Research Group of the International Association of Constitutional Law. He is widely published in global journals. He recently wrote the chapter on “Right to Life” for Oxford Handbook of Constitutional Law in Asia (forthcoming), and he is the editor of a collected volume on “Human Dignity in Asia: Dialogue between Law and Culture”, to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2022.

Brian Christopher Jones is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield. He previously lectured at the University of Dundee, Liverpool Hope University, and the University of Stirling, and did his post-doctoral studies at Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica (Taiwan). He currently serves as the co-convenor of the Public Law Section for the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), and is also a member of the SLS Executive Committee. Brian's research focuses on public law, touching on aspects of constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, and the interaction between law and politics. He's author of Constitutional Idolatry and Democracy: Challenging the Infatuation with Writtenness (2020), and editor of Law and Politics of the Taiwan Sunflower and Hong Kong Umbrella Movements (2017) and Democracy and Rule of Law in China's Shadow (2021).

Kuan Hsiaowei is an associate professor of law at the College of Law, National Taipei University, Taiwan. She received her S.J.D from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Her writing focuses on gender and law, legal mobilization, women’s rights and LGBT rights in Taiwan. She co-edited a textbook on Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women with Dr. Wen-Chen Chang in 2015. Since 2020, she has become members of both the Gender Equality Committee in the Executive Yuan and Gender Equality and Children’s Rights Committee in the Judicial Yuan in Taiwan; theses committees are the consultative organs in the highest level of both administrative and judiciary authorities. During her term in the committees, she participated in the decision-making of the national policies related to gender equality. She also served on the board of or as a consultant for NGOs which are dedicated to advocate for women’s rights and LGBTI rights.

Organiser: Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: jl91@soas.ac.uk