Jedidiah J. Kroncke. “Legal Complicity in an Age of Resurgent Authoritarianism.” Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, vol. 38, no. 1 (2025): 75-120.
This article critiques the ethical assumptions underlying liberal legal professionals’ engagement with authoritarian regimes, particularly through the lens of modernization theory, which once promised that economic development would naturally lead to democratization. Focusing on the case of American lawyers’ post-1978 engagement with China, the article argues that such professional involvement was often justified by a belief in law’s transformative potential, despite the persistence of authoritarianism. As global authoritarian ideologies now flourish even within liberal regimes, the article calls for a reevaluation of the legal profession’s claimed neutrality, autonomy, and commitment to democratic values in both domestic and international contexts.