Pitman B. Potter – författare

The Economic Contract Law of China: Legitimation and Contract Autonomy in the PRC

The legal system of the People's Republic of China has seen significant changes since legal reforms began in 1978. At the end of the second decade of legal reform, law-making and institution-building have reached impressive levels. Understanding the operation and possible futures of law in the People's Republic of China requires an appreciation of the normative influences on the system, as well as an examination of how these norms have worked in practice.

This book examines the Chinese government’s policies and practices for relations with the Inner Periphery areas of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, and the Outer Periphery areas of Hong Kong and Taiwan focusing on themes of political authority, socio-cultural relations, and economic development. China’s history may be seen as one of managing the geographic periphery surrounding China proper. Successive imperial, republican, and communist governments have struggled to maintain sovereignty over the regions surrounding the great river valleys of China. The importance of the periphery is no less real today, concerns over national security, access to natural resources, and long-held concerns about relations between Han and other ethnic groups continue to dominate Chinese law, policy and practice regarding governance in the Inner Periphery regions of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. In the Outer Periphery, Beijing sees engagement with the outside world (particularly the West) as inextricably tied to Chinese sovereignty over former foreign colonies of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Using the case study of national integration to indicate how policies are articulated and implemented through law and political-legal institutions, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of the peripheral regions. It will also appeal to academic and policy communities interested in legal reform in China

The trade principles of Western liberal democracies are at the coreof international trade law regimes and standards. Are non-Westernsocieties uniformly adopting international standards, or are theyadapting them to local norms and cultural values?This volume presents a new conceptual approach – the paradigmof selective adaptation – to explore and explain the reception ofinternational trade law in the Pacific Rim. Building on a conceptualdiscussion of the normative and institutional contexts forinternational law, the contributors draw on examples from China, Japan,Thailand, and North America to show that formal acceptance ofinternational trade standards through accession to the World TradeOrganization and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade does notnecessarily translate into uniform enforcement and acceptance at thelocal level. This book provides compelling evidence that non-uniformcompliance will be a legitimate outcome of the globalization ofinternational trade law.

The trade principles of Western liberal democracies are at the coreof international trade law regimes and standards. Are non-Westernsocieties uniformly adopting international standards, or are theyadapting them to local norms and cultural values?This volume presents a new conceptual approach – the paradigmof selective adaptation – to explore and explain the reception ofinternational trade law in the Pacific Rim. Building on a conceptualdiscussion of the normative and institutional contexts forinternational law, the contributors draw on examples from China, Japan,Thailand, and North America to show that formal acceptance ofinternational trade standards through accession to the World TradeOrganization and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade does notnecessarily translate into uniform enforcement and acceptance at thelocal level. This book provides compelling evidence that non-uniformcompliance will be a legitimate outcome of the globalization ofinternational trade law.

Closer and more frequent contact among states brought about by globalization has led to an increase in trade and human rights disputes that can challenge economic relations and cloud political relationships. Preventing and managing these disputes requires a better understanding of the cross-cultural dimensions of treaty performance on trade and human rights, especially for increasingly important actors in the international system such as China.Assessing Treaty Performance in China outlines a new approach for understanding China's treaty performance around international standards on trade and human rights, using the paradigms of selective adaptation and institutional capacity. Selective adaptation reveals how local interpretation and implementation of international treaty standards are affected by normative perspectives derived from perception, complementarity, and legitimacy. Institutional capacity explains how operational dimensions of legal performance are affected by structural and relational dynamics of institutional purpose, location, orientation, and cohesion.The book focuses on legal performance rather than technical compliance to provide a more comprehensive perspective on China's interaction with international treaty standards. It also offers policy suggestions for more effective engagement with China on trade and human rights issues.

China's rise to prosperity on the international stage has been accompanied by increased tensions with international standards of law and governance. Exporting Virtue? examines human rights as an example of China's international assertiveness and considers the implications of internationalizing PRC human rights policy and practice. Pitman B. Potter suggests that in the absence of clear and enforceable global human rights standards, China has been free to pursue its political interests and policy initiatives. Couched in terms of virtue but manifested as authoritarianism, China's international human rights activism invites scholars and policy makers around the world to engage critically with the issue. Drawing on both Chinese- and English-language sources, Exporting Virtue? investigates the challenges that China's human rights orthodoxy poses to international norms and institutions, offering normative and institutional analysis and providing suggestions for policy response.

China's rise to prosperity on the international stage has been accompanied by increased tensions with international standards of law and governance. Exporting Virtue? examines human rights as an example of China's international assertiveness and considers the implications of internationalizing PRC human rights policy and practice. Pitman B. Potter suggests that in the absence of clear and enforceable global human rights standards, China has been free to pursue its political interests and policy initiatives. Couched in terms of virtue but manifested as authoritarianism, China's international human rights activism invites scholars and policy makers around the world to engage critically with the issue. Drawing on both Chinese- and English-language sources, Exporting Virtue? investigates the challenges that China's human rights orthodoxy poses to international norms and institutions, offering normative and institutional analysis and providing suggestions for policy response.

Drawing parallels with domestic populism movements that are anti-elitist and grievance-fuelled, China and the Rules-Based International Order theorizes that contemporary Chinese conduct under the leadership of Xi Jinping can be described as "globalized populism" against the Western-dominated international order.Pitman B. Potter uses the framework of populism to explore China's responses to three global crises: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and involuntary migration. As other countries debated the cause of COVID-19, China expressed an antagonistic populism in its relations with the international public health policy system. By contrast, the domestic challenges of climate change have prompted greater Chinese involvement in international climate policy, an example of participatory populism. Finally, China has responded hesitantly to migration, articulated in passive populism against international migration policy.This reasoned analysis of China's globalized populism supports a better understanding of a country with increasing prominence in the world and suggests practical policies to improve relations between China and the international system.

This is the first full-length study in English of Peng Zhen (1902-97), a revolutionary comrade of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, and an influential legal policymaker in China during both men's regimes. As one of the chief architects of PRC law and legal institutions during the 1950s and again in the 1980s, Peng left an indelible mark on the present legal system of China. This book analyzes the evolution of Peng's legal views from his days as a revolutionary in the 1930s and 1940s, through his participation in Communist rule during the 1950s, to his conflicts with Mao and his purge in 1966, and finally to his rehabilitation and resumption of legal reform activities in the 1980s and 1990s. Initially, Peng embraced Leninist notions of law and political authority. These ideas gradually evolved so that in the 1980s Peng advocated increased reliance on formal rules and procedures as mechanisms of governance.

This book examines the Chinese government’s policies and practices for relations with the Inner Periphery areas of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, and the Outer Periphery areas of Hong Kong and Taiwan focusing on themes of political authority, socio-cultural relations, and economic development. China’s history may be seen as one of managing the geographic periphery surrounding China proper. Successive imperial, republican, and communist governments have struggled to maintain sovereignty over the regions surrounding the great river valleys of China. The importance of the periphery is no less real today, concerns over national security, access to natural resources, and long-held concerns about relations between Han and other ethnic groups continue to dominate Chinese law, policy and practice regarding governance in the Inner Periphery regions of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. In the Outer Periphery, Beijing sees engagement with the outside world (particularly the West) as inextricably tied to Chinese sovereignty over former foreign colonies of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Using the case study of national integration to indicate how policies are articulated and implemented through law and political-legal institutions, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of the peripheral regions. It will also appeal to academic and policy communities interested in legal reform in China

This volume explores various aspects of the law in transition in post-Mao China. Stanley Lubman's introduction places each of the substantive chapters in the larger context of Chinese legal studies. Edward Epstein analyses the transplanting of European and Anglo-American legal ideologies into China, and the dilemmas this poses for the rule of law and legitimation in the reform period. Murray Scot Tanner analyses reforms in the legislative process, focusing particularly on the separation of the Communist Party from day-to-day legislative affairs and more pluralistic tendencies in the legislative process. William C. Jones, by addressing the opinion of the Surpreme People's Court regarding implementation of the general principles of civil law, raises compelling questions about legal interpretation in China in the context of social reform. James Feinerman analyses developments in Chinese contract law, raising the question as to whether in China it can form a basis for predictability and certainty in commercial transactions that are integral to the economic reforms. Judy Polumbaum studies developing efforts to enact a press law, reflecting the uses to which law has been put in pursuit of the political issue of press reform. Finally, Pitman Potter analyses the emerging concept of judicial review in the context of the Administrative Litigation Law of the PRC, an important aspect of political reform in China. By addressing these issues, the authors aim to reveal the various aspects of the developing autonomy that is embodied in China's legal reforms.