Weiquan (Rights Protection) Lawyering in an Authoritarian State: Building a Culture of Public-Interest Lawyering

Fu, Hailing; Cullen, Richard

doi:10.1086/tcj.59.20066382

Cited by 87 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…These lawyers can be divided into two subtypes, depending on their geographical locations and notability in China's justice system. Notable activists refers to a small group of criminal defense lawyers, concentrated in Beijing, who often come from humble professional and social backgrounds but proactively seek out politically sensitive cases and challenge arbitrary state power (Fu & Cullen 2008). Grassroots activists refers to the ordinary lawyers, all over China, who possess liberal values and motivations but do not mobilize collectively due to unfavorable structural constraints.…”

Section: Politically Liberalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Liberalism and Political Embeddedness: Understanding Politics in the Work of Chinese Criminal Defense Lawyers

Liu¹,

Halliday²

2011

Law Soc Rev

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This article examines the meanings of politics in everyday legal practice using the case of Chinese criminal defense lawyers. Based on 194 in‐depth interviews with criminal defense lawyers and other informants in 22 cities across China, we argue that lawyers’ everyday politics have two faces: on the one hand, lawyers potentially can challenge state power, protect citizen rights, and pursue proceduralism in their daily work; on the other hand, they often have to rely on political connections with state agencies to protect themselves and to solve problems in their legal practice. The double meanings of politics—namely, political liberalism and political embeddedness—explain the complex motivations and coping tactics that are frequently found in Chinese lawyers’ everyday work. Our data show that the Chinese criminal defense bar is differentiated along these two meanings of politics into five clusters of lawyers: progressive elites, pragmatic brokers, notable activists, grassroots activists, and routine practitioners. They also suggest that a principal manifestation of political lawyering is not merely short‐term mobilization or revolutionary struggle against arbitrary state power, but also an incremental everyday process that often involves sophisticated tactics to manage interests that often conflict.

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Section: Politically Liberalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Liberalism and Political Embeddedness: Understanding Politics in the Work of Chinese Criminal Defense Lawyers

Liu¹,

Halliday²

2011

Law Soc Rev

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“…A group of politically liberal lawyers Halliday and Liu term "notable activists" rely on the media and the Internet to protect themselves and influence public opinion. Research looking at weiquang (rights protection) and public interest lawyers reach similar findings (Fu andCullen 2008, 2011). The viewpoints of such liberal and public-minded lawyers offer an alternative to official legal discourse through the mediation of the media.…”

Section: Construction Of Legality In the Networked Public Spherementioning

confidence: 61%

“…Many ordinary citizens as well as legal and media professionals believe that strong public opinion raises the probability that Party-state agencies will respond to problems and grievances (He, Wang, and Su 2013;Liu and Halliday 2011;Yang 2009). Consequently, public opinion has become a tool that various actors attempt to mobilize public opinion to influence political and legal processes (Fu and Cullen 2008;Halliday and Liu 2007;He et al 2013;Liebman 2005;Liu and Halliday 2011;Stern 2011). Indeed, cases of legal mobilization indicate that beliefs about the Chinese Party-state's responsiveness to public opinion are not ungrounded.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contesting Legality in Authoritarian Contexts: Food Safety, Rule of Law and China's Networked Public Sphere

Lei¹,

Zhou²

2015

Law Soc Rev

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Since the introduction of the Internet, China's networked public sphere has become a critical site in which various actors compete to shape public opinion and promote or forestall legal and political change. This paper examines how members of an online public, the Tianya Forum, conceptualized and discussed law in relation to a specific event, the 2008 Sanlu milk scandal. Whereas previous studies suggest the Chinese state effectively controls citizens' legal consciousness via propaganda, this analysis shows that the construction of legality by the Tianya public was not a top‐down process, but a complex negotiation involving multiple parties. The Chinese state had to compete with lawyers and outspoken media to frame and interpret the scandal for the Tianya public and it was not always successful in doing so. Data show further how the online public framed the food safety incident as indicative of fundamental problems rooted in China's political regime and critiqued the state's instrumental use of law.

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“…For example, ES’ personal objectives and commitments may also influence their strategies in community conflict. Fu and Cullen () noted that weiquan lawyering can be moderate, critical, or radical. Moderate lawyers like to engage legally rather than politically, whereas critical lawyers tend to take not only cases with potential social and economic impacts but also those with certain political ramifications, and radical lawyers often prefer to identify themselves with political dissidents and causes and represent the most sensitive cases.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Experts and Scholars in Community Conflict Resolution: A Comparative Analysis of Two Cases in China

Yang

2018

Negotiation Conflict Man Res

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In this article, I draw from two case studies to explore the role of experts and scholars (ES), as a special third party, in community conflict resolution in contemporary China. Findings include that local ES are more likely to play the roles as leaders, organizers of farmers, and as agents of government. Nonlocal ES are more likely to play the roles as information providers and as pure self‐interest pursuers. This study also reveals that, although their knowledge and information are important, knowledge and information are only preconditions for ES's participation. Their social capital–rather than the knowledge and information they possess–differentiates the effectiveness of their participation in governance and the facilitation of community conflict resolution. Local ES with high social capital are more effective in governance and facilitating community conflict resolution than nonlocal ES without high social capital.

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Weiquan (Rights Protection) Lawyering in an Authoritarian State: Building a Culture of Public-Interest Lawyering

Cited by 87 publications

References 1 publication

Political Liberalism and Political Embeddedness: Understanding Politics in the Work of Chinese Criminal Defense Lawyers

Political Liberalism and Political Embeddedness: Understanding Politics in the Work of Chinese Criminal Defense Lawyers

Contesting Legality in Authoritarian Contexts: Food Safety, Rule of Law and China's Networked Public Sphere

The Role of Experts and Scholars in Community Conflict Resolution: A Comparative Analysis of Two Cases in China

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