This article examines how the Chinese state manages and shapes the legal profession in ways that support authoritarian rule, using mechanisms of professional socialization rather than relying solely on repression.
Politics Within the Legal Profession
Southworth (2018), “Lawyers and the Conservative Counterrevolution”
Ann Southworth. “Lawyers and the Conservative Counterrevolution.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 43, no. 4 (2018): 1698–1728. This article analyzes how the conservative legal movement in the United States has successfully mobilized lawyers, organizations, and …
Southworth (2019), Lawyers of the Right Professionalizing the Conservative Coalition.
This article examines how conservative lawyers have strategically shaped the legal profession and political landscape in the United States, contributing to democratic backsliding by promoting ideologies that concentrate legal power within partisan movements.
Dorf and Chu (2018), “Lawyers as Activists: From the Airport to the Courtroom”
This article highlights the crucial role lawyers played in resisting authoritarian-leaning actions during a period of democratic backsliding in the United States, specifically under the Trump administration.
Abel (1985), “Lawyers and the Power to Change”
This article examines the marginalized yet politically potent fringe of the legal profession—lawyers who neither represent commercial interests nor serve as state functionaries, but who dedicate their practice to advancing the interests of the poor and disenfranchised.
Moliterno (2013), The American Legal Profession in Crisis: Resistance and Responses to Change
This work explores the American legal profession’s historical tendency to resist reform, particularly in moments of crisis that threaten its identity or institutional norms.
Sinnar (2017), “Human Rights, National Security, and the Role of Lawyers in the Resistance”
This article examines the role of lawyers in resisting democratic backsliding and authoritarian policymaking in the United States, particularly during the Trump administration.
Mortazavi (2017), “The Cost of Avoidance: Pluralism, Neutrality, and the Foundations of Modern Legal Ethics”
The article argues that the legal profession’s shift to “neutral partisanship” in 1969 undermines lawyers’ ability to uphold justice and democracy by suppressing moral and ethical engagement.
Dressel, Bonoan (2024), “Courts and Authoritarian Populism in Asia: Reflections from Indonesia and the Philippines
Björn Dressel and Cristina Regina Bonoan, “ Courts and Authoritarian Populism in Asia: Reflections from Indonesia and the Philippines.” Law & Policy, vol. 46, no. 3 (2024): 277–297. Summary: Authoritarian populism has been making a …
Trochev, Solomon (2018), “Authoritarian constitutionalism in Putin’s Russia: A pragmatic constitutional court in a dual state”
Alexei Trochev & Peter Solomon, “Authoritarian constitutionalism in Putin’s Russia: A pragmatic constitutional court in a dual state.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol 51, no 3 (2018): 201-214. Summary: This article analyzes the successful adaptation of …