Sida Liu, Ching-Fang Hsu, and Terence C. Halliday. “Law as a Sword, Law as a Shield. Politically Liberal Lawyers and the Rule of Law in China.” China Perspectives, vol. 2019, no. 1 (2019): 65-73. This article investigates how politically liberal lawyers in China and Hong Kong understand and utilize the concept of the rule of …
Hualing Fu. “The July 9th (709) Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers: Legal Advocacy in an Authoritarian State.” Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 27, no. 112 (2018): 554-568. This article examines the 2015 crackdown on human rights lawyers in China, situating it within the broader political context of increasing authoritarian control. It analyzes the emergence and …
Umut Z. Türem. “Professional Liquidation in the Context of Autocratic Legalism: Lawyers, Class, and Status in Turkey, 2002–?.” Law & Social Inquiry, First View (2025): 1-32. This article argues that discussions of autocratic legalism must include the legal profession alongside the judiciary, using Turkey as a case study. It shows that in contexts where the …
Ya-Wen Lei. The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media, and Authoritarian Rule in China. Princeton, U.S.: Princeton University Press, 2018. This book explores how China’s authoritarian state, through law, media, and the Internet, has unintentionally fostered a growing and contentious public sphere. Despite censorship and civil society restrictions, this public sphere has enabled citizens to engage …
Heidi Nichols Haddad and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom. “Foreign Agents or Agents of Justice? Private Foundations, Backlash Against Non-Governmental Organizations, and International Human Rights Litigation.” Law & Society Review, vol. 57, no. 1 (2023): 12-35. This article critically examines the claim behind Russia’s 2012 “Foreign Agents” Law that foreign funding drives NGO agendas, focusing on human …
Kathryn Hendley. “Legal Dualism as a Framework for Analyzing the Role of Law Under Authoritarianism.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science, vol. 18, no. 1 (2022): 211-226. This article reexamines Ernst Fraenkel’s concept of the dual state, proposing the idea of legal dualism as a useful framework for understanding law under authoritarianism. Legal dualism …
Freek Van der Vet. “‘When They Come for You’: Legal Mobilization in New Authoritarian Russia.” Law & Society Review, vol. 52, no. 2 (2018): 301-336. This article investigates how Russian lawyers respond to escalating state repression under the country’s “new authoritarian” legal regime, marked by restrictive laws on NGOs, surveillance, and treason. Drawing on interviews, …
Tamir Moustafa. “Law and Courts in Authoritarian Regimes.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science, vol. 10, (2014): 281–299. This article surveys emerging research on the role of courts in authoritarian regimes, challenging earlier assumptions that they function solely as instruments of repression. It highlights how courts can serve as tools of governance, shape interactions …
Ethan Michelson. “Lawyers, Political Embeddedness, and Institutional Continuity in China’s Transition From Socialism.” The American Journal of Sociology, vol. 113, no. 2 (2007): 352–414. This article examines how Chinese lawyers navigate professional challenges by developing and relying on political embeddedness, defined as their bureaucratic, instrumental, or personal ties to state actors. Drawing on data from …
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 …