This chapter explores the critical role attorneys play as defenders of the rule of law in backsliding democracies, using Hong Kong as a case study.
Asia
Wang (2025), “The Legality Trap: Legal Cooptation Under Authoritarianism”
This study explores how legal advocacy in authoritarian China shapes environmental social movements by channeling their efforts into less radical, more state-aligned paths.
Cui (2016), “Does Judicial Independence Matter: A Study of the Determinants of Administrative Litigation in an Authoritarian Regime”
This article examines administrative litigation against the government in authoritarian regimes, using over twenty years of data from China’s tax collection cases.
Pangaribuan (2024), “Navigating an Authoritarian Landscape: Criminal procedure and Defence Lawyers in Indonesia”
This article examines the challenges faced by defense lawyers operating within Indonesia’s authoritarian legal system.
Lai (2025), Legal Resistance Under Authoritarianism: The Struggle for the Rule of Law in Hong Kong
This book examines the erosion of Hong Kong’s rule of law amid growing authoritarian control by China.
Kroncke (2025), “Legal Complicity in an Age of Resurgent Authoritarianism”
This article critically examines the ethical and political assumptions that have shaped how liberal legal professionals, particularly in the United States, engage with authoritarian regimes.
Givens (2011), “Advocates Of Change In Authoritarian Regimes: How Chinese Lawyers And Chinese And Russian Journalists Stay Out Of Trouble”
In backsliding democracies, this research shows that lawyers remain key actors in the struggle for political change.
Xie (2022), “‘Lawyering Repression’ and Protest Demobilization Under Rule of Law Authoritarianism”
This article introduces a collection of studies that explore the surprising rise of protest and public dissent in contemporary China, despite its authoritarian and repressive political system.
Lee (2014), “Law as a Contested Terrain Under Authoritarianism”
This article reviews two recent books that examine the evolving role of law and legal activism under authoritarian rule in China and Hong Kong.
Stern and Liu (2021), “State-Adjacent Professionals: How Chinese Lawyers Participate in Political Life”
This article challenges the common view that Chinese lawyers are either dissident activists or politically disengaged professionals by focusing on a third category: lawyers who work closely with the state while still engaging in governance.