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The Rule of Law in a Chinese Way: Social Diversification and Reconstructing the System of Authority

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2014

Weidong JI
Weidong JI*
Affiliation:
KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
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Abstract

Against the background of increasing social diversification in a market economy, this paper examines the challenges confronting China’s existing power structure and system of authority. Both to overcome the legitimation crisis of ruling and to achieve a soft landing of the political reform depend on reconstructing the authority of the rule of law through judicial reform as the breakthrough point. For this very reason, the top-level design of regime transition can follow a two-step strategy of building a rule of law country first, to be followed by restructuring power, so as to achieve democracy via the rule of law. It also proposes a conception to institutionalize the rule of law, emphasizing that the alternative three-review mechanism is both necessary and feasible, in that a top-level design of judicial review can contribute to our strivings for judicial fairness, an implementation of budget review and accountability review at the grassroots level for fiscal democracy, and the synergy of high-level and grassroots powers for a virtuous circle between the rule of law authority and democratic polity in mutual enhancement. There also comes the moment for plural efforts to both drive and achieve the rule of law based on the three-review mechanism.

Keywords

rule of law authorityrule of law democracybudget parliamentalismbudget reviewaccountability reviewjudicial reviewlocal self-government
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , November 2014 , pp. 305 - 338
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 

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Footnotes

*

Professor and Dean of KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

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