This article examines the evolving stance of Chinese administrations towards judicial autonomy and legal activism over the past two decades.
Asia
Pei (2010), “Rights and Resistance: The Changing Contexts of the Dissident Movement”
This chapter explores how rapid economic growth and legal reforms in China have reshaped the dissident movement by creating new political and legal spaces for rights assertion.
Borsuk, Dinç, Kavak, and Sayan (2021), “Consolidating and Contesting Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Turkey: Towards a Framework”
This chapter examines Turkey’s transformation from a hopeful democratic state to a key example of democratic backsliding under the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
O’Brien (2023), “Neither Withdrawal Nor Resistance: Adapting to Increased Repression in China”
In the face of growing repression in China, some lawyers, along with pastors and NGOs, are navigating authoritarian constraints not through resistance but through strategic accommodation.
Liljeblad (2019), “The Independent Lawyers’ Association Of Myanmar As A Legal Transplant: Local Challenges To The Idea Of An Independent National Bar Association”
This article examines the establishment of the Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar (ILAM), created through a 2014–2016 program by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Initiative (IBAHRI).
Eberbach (2023), “Human Rights Legal Education in Times of Transition: Perspectives and Practices of Law Instructors in Myanmar”
This article presents a mixed-methods study of human rights education and training (HRET) among law educators in Myanmar during the country’s democratic transition, which was abruptly halted by the 2021 military coup.
Khan and Cheesman (2023), “Law, Lawyers and Legal Institutions”
For attorneys in backsliding democracies, this chapter offers a sobering reflection on the limits of legalism and the complex relationship between law, legitimacy, and power.
Rosenbaum, Hubbard, Sharp-Bauer, and Tushaus (2021), “The Myanmar Shwe: Empowering Law Students, Teachers, And The Community Through Clinical Education And The Rule Of Law”
This article explores the reform of legal education in Myanmar during a brief period of political opening, focusing on the role of clinical legal education (CLE) in empowering future lawyers under conditions of ongoing authoritarian legacy.
Mason and Cheesman (2023), “Land and Law Between Reform and Revolution”
This chapter explores how land law in Myanmar functions as a tool of governance, dispossession, and contestation, particularly during the semi-civilian government of the 2010s and in the wake of the 2021 military coup.
Benny, Veitch, Hualing, and Cullen (2020), “Pursuing Democracy In An Authoritarian State: Protest And The Rule Of Law In Hong Kong”
This article examines the Occupy Central (OC) trial in Hong Kong as a pivotal moment in the legal and political struggle against authoritarian backsliding.