The Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law presents

Democracy and Rule of Law in China's Shadow

The ECCL welcomes Dr Brian Christopher Jones (University of Sheffield) to discuss his recent edited volume, Democracy and Rule of Law in China's Shadow, a description of which is provided below. In addition to Dr Jones, presenters include two contributors to the volume, Dr Amy Barrow (Macquarie University) and Dr Lin Chien-Chih (Academia Sinica, Taiwan). Discussants are Professor Wen-Chen Chang (National Taiwan University), Dr Stephen Thomson, and Dr Maartje De Visser (Singapore Management University).

This event was a roundtable discussion. The three authors introduced the book, followed by comments from our three discussants. The schedule was as follows:

Chair/introductions
Dr Asanga Welikala

Book Presentations
Dr Brian Christopher Jones
Dr Amy Barrow
Dr Lin Chien-Chih

Discussants
Dr Stephen Thomson
Dr Maartje De Visser
Professor Wen-Chen Chang

Chair/close
Dr Asanga Welikala


Democracy and Rule of Law in China’s Shadow
This book provides detailed insight into some of the most contentious events occurring in jurisdictions operating within China's vast shadow.

Epic clashes between law and politics have become a regular fixture throughout the world, and no region has seen more of these than Asia. In some cases these conflicts have involved newfound democratic aspirations or democratic deepening, while in others it has arisen because of pushback against authoritarian or semi-authoritarian governments. Indeed, many of these clashes centre on or involve the region's most powerful and controversial player: China. This book focuses on several of these critical struggles, examining how democracy and the rule of law play out in a number of jurisdictions highly influenced by China's presence.

Brian Christopher Jones is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield. He previously lectured at the University of Dundee, Liverpool Hope University, and the University of Stirling, and did his post-doctoral studies at Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica (Taiwan). He currently serves as the co-convenor of the Public Law Section for the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), and is also a member of the SLS Executive Committee. Brian's research focuses on public law, touching on aspects of constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, and the interaction between law and politics. He's author of Constitutional Idolatry and Democracy: Challenging the Infatuation with Writtenness (2020), and editor of Law and Politics of the Taiwan Sunflower and Hong Kong Umbrella Movements (2017) and Democracy and Rule of Law in China's Shadow (2021).