Book contents
- Law and the Party in China
- Law and the Party in China
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 Ideology and Organisation in Chinese Law
- Part I Ideology and the Party in Law
- 2 Party Ideology and Chinese Law
- 3 Making Sense through Ideology
- 4 The Conception of Legality under Xi Jinping
- 5 Law–Morality Ideology in the Xi Jinping Era
- Part II Ideology and the Party in Law and Organisation
- Glossary of Chinese Terms
- Index
- References
4 - The Conception of Legality under Xi Jinping
from Part I - Ideology and the Party in Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 December 2020
- Law and the Party in China
- Law and the Party in China
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 Ideology and Organisation in Chinese Law
- Part I Ideology and the Party in Law
- 2 Party Ideology and Chinese Law
- 3 Making Sense through Ideology
- 4 The Conception of Legality under Xi Jinping
- 5 Law–Morality Ideology in the Xi Jinping Era
- Part II Ideology and the Party in Law and Organisation
- Glossary of Chinese Terms
- Index
- References
Summary
In his study of Chinese Communist Party rule-of-law doctrine, Ewan Smith argues that in the Xi Jinping era, Party leadership has shifted the dominant understanding that rule of law functions to rectify institutions to the understanding that it ‘rectifies’ or disciplines individuals as state and non-state actors. The rule of law has been explicitly subordinated to ‘Party Leadership’, and the law has been recast as one form of social control among many. Moreover, the rule of law under Xi is explicitly superstructural. It yields to basic economic changes, including China’s development needs. Moreover, whereas earlier accounts suggest a foreign idea under cautious inspection, Party doctrine under Xi identifies rule of law in China as indigenous and largely unrelated to Western accounts. These shifts in the Party’s frame of reference in relation to rule of law see it now as not merely an ephemeral concept but a ‘superstructural concept’, relativised as ‘Socialist Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics’ in the new era.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Law and the Party in ChinaIdeology and Organisation, pp. 97 - 120Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
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