Mary E. Gallagher. Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers, and the State. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
This book explores how authoritarian regimes may adopt democratic legal institutions to reinforce their rule, using China’s protective labor laws and judicial access as a case study. It analyzes how Chinese workers mobilize these laws and under what conditions legal channels succeed or fail. Educated workers are more likely to pursue their rights through the courts and report positive outcomes, while less privileged workers often experience frustration with the gap between legal promises and enforcement. As a result, many abandon formal legal avenues in favor of street-level protest, including strikes and demonstrations. The study reveals that authoritarian rule of law reforms can raise expectations without delivering justice, triggering unrest rather than containing it. In this context, legal professionals play a dual role: enabling limited access to justice for some while being sidelined or rendered ineffective for others. The findings highlight how legal institutions in backsliding democracies may both legitimize and destabilize authoritarian governance.