Law and the Party in China Ideology and Organisation

In the Xi Jinping era, it has become clear that the rule of law, as understood in the West, will not appear in China soon. But was this ever a likely option? This book argues China's legal system needs to be studied from an internal perspective, to take into account the characteristic architecture of China's Party-state. To do so, it addresses two key elements: ideology and organisation. Part One of the book discusses ideology and the law, exploring how the Chinese Communist Party conceives of the nature of law and its position within its broader range of policy tools. Part Two, on organisation and the law, reviews how these ideological principles manifest themselves in the application of law, as well as the reform of the Party-state. As such, it highlights how the Party's plans and approaches run counter to mainstream theoretical expectations, and advocates a greater attention to the inherent logic of the system itself.

1. Ideology and Organisation in Chinese law: Towards a New Paradigm for Legality Rogier Creemers and Susan Trevaskes; Part I. Ideology and the Party in Law: 2. Party Ideology and Chinese Law Rogier Creemers; 3. Making Sense through Ideology Gloria Davies; 4. The Conception of Legality Under Xi Jinping Ewan Smith; 5. Law-Morality Ideology in the Xi Jinping Era Delia Lin and Susan Trevaskes; Part II. Ideology and the Party in Law and Organisation: 6. Seeking Truthful Names: The External Implications of China's Internal Ideology and Organisation Margaret K. Lewis; 7. The 'Organisational Weapon' of the Chinese Communist Party: China's Disciplinary Regime from Mao to Xi Jinping Ling Li; 8. Disorientation for the New Era: Intraparty Regulations and China's Changing Party-State Relations Samuli Seppanen; 9. Technologies of Risk and Discipline in China's Social Credit System Adam Knight; Glossary of Chinese Terms: Political, Ideological and Philosophical Concepts and Slogans; Index.

Rogier J. E. H. Creemers is Assistant Professor of the law and governance of China, at the Leiden Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University. His research explores how the Chinese Communist Party views its role in governance, and uses technology to further its project. With a VIDI grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, he leads a project to chart the development of a tech-enabled 'smart state' in China. He is also preparing a book on China in Global Cyberspace. His previous research has been published in, amongst others, The China Journal, The Journal of Contemporary China, and Asiascape: Digital Asia.
Susan Trevaskes is a professor of Chinese Studies at Griffith University, Australia.  Her research has resulted in over 60 publications including the first books in English on the criminal courts in contemporary China (2007), policing serious crime in China (2010), and the death penalty reform in China (2012). She has published papers on Chinese justice in a number of journals including The China Journal, The British Journal of Criminology, The China Quarterly, and Modern China. Her latest co-edited volumes are The Politics of Law and Stability in China (2014), Legal Reforms and Deprivation of Liberty in Contemporary China (2016) and Justice: the China Experience (2017).