This study explores how legal advocacy in authoritarian China shapes environmental social movements by channeling their efforts into less radical, more state-aligned paths.
China
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.
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.
Stern and Liu (2020), “The Good Lawyer: State-Led Professional Socialization in Contemporary China”
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.
Pils (2014), China’s Human Rights Lawyers: Advocacy and Resistance
This book provides a powerful analysis of the role of human rights lawyers operating within an authoritarian legal regime, focusing on China.
Hualing (2011), “Challenging Authoritarianism through Law: Potentials and Limit”
This article explores the complex role of legal reform within authoritarian regimes, focusing on activist lawyers in China who strive to use the law to protect rights and promote social change.