Asia Pacific Legal Culture and Globalization – serie

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.

"Stability preservation" (weiwen) has long been an imperative of China's one-party state. At the same time, China has recently embedded a commitment to the protection of human rights in its constitution. This book examines the multiple and shifting ways in which weiwen impinges on the implementation of human rights. Using case studies, Sarah Biddulph methodically examines the state's response to labour unrest, medical disputes, and forced housing evictions. As she demonstrates, the state's reaction can vary from taking steps to ameliorate the underlying causes of the citizens' grievances to the repression of rights-related protests and the punishment of protestors. The Stability Imperative: Human Rights and Law in China reveals how the systematic failure of the legal system to protect rights coupled with an overemphasis on coercive forms of stability preservation is undermining the authority of law in China and could, ultimately, damage the Communist Party's leadership.

Since the 2008 economic meltdown, market-driven globalization has posed new challenges for governments. This collection introduces the innovative concept of "grey zones" of global governance, where international rules are bent or ignored. These zones are significant, contested spaces for state policy and market behaviour to interact with respect to trade, the environment, food security, and investment.Powerful incentives exist in the global economy for states to harmonize their policies through trade and investment agreements. But grey zones both promote uniformity in many areas of public life and facilitate diverse forms of capitalism in market societies. They enable governments to balance national and global economic benefits as they advance their core interests. At a time of growing nationalist sentiment, Grey Zones in International Economic Law and Global Governance explores creative local engagement with international economic law and offers a bold new way to understand public concerns about international trade and investment, food security, green energy, subsidies, and anti-dumping actions.

Since the 2008 economic meltdown, market-driven globalization has posed new challenges for governments. This collection introduces the innovative concept of "grey zones" of global governance, where international rules are bent or ignored. These zones are significant, contested spaces for state policy and market behaviour to interact with respect to trade, the environment, food security, and investment.Powerful incentives exist in the global economy for states to harmonize their policies through trade and investment agreements. But grey zones both promote uniformity in many areas of public life and facilitate diverse forms of capitalism in market societies. They enable governments to balance national and global economic benefits as they advance their core interests. At a time of growing nationalist sentiment, Grey Zones in International Economic Law and Global Governance explores creative local engagement with international economic law and offers a bold new way to understand public concerns about international trade and investment, food security, green energy, subsidies, and anti-dumping actions.

Over the last twenty years, India has enacted legislation to turn crucial goals such as food security, primary education, and employment into legal rights for its citizens. But enacting laws is one thing and implementing them through an imperfect institutional structure is another. A Human Rights Based Approach to Development in India examines a diverse range of human development issues over a period of rapid economic growth in India. Demonstrating why institutional and economic development are synonymous, the essays in this volume detail the many obstacles that may hinder development. In addition, they show how the domestic policies required to implement laws may undermine India's treaty obligations at the World Trade Organization or under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The contributors ultimately ask whether development can be achieved by making it a legal right and whether India's right to develop is truly at odds with its international commitments.

Globally, isolationism and protectionism are on the rise, and resurgent authoritarian nations are reasserting the centrality of the sovereign state. And with China's influence around the world intensifying, the dynamic interrelationship of the national and supranational in shaping norms of good governance has become increasingly relevant. Good Governance in Economic Development critically examines the ways in which transparency and accountability mechanisms are incorporated or reflected in international trade, finance, and investment regimes. It also explores the Chinese state's engagement with these norms, shedding new light not only on how the principles of transparency, accountability, and public participation are applied within China, but also on the ability of China to affect international rules. Through close analysis of how norms are adapted locally, the contributors offer insights into the global and national implications of international good governance rules.

Globally, isolationism and protectionism are on the rise, and resurgent authoritarian nations are reasserting the centrality of the sovereign state. And with China's influence around the world intensifying, the dynamic interrelationship of the national and supranational in shaping norms of good governance has become increasingly relevant. Good Governance in Economic Development critically examines the ways in which transparency and accountability mechanisms are incorporated or reflected in international trade, finance, and investment regimes. It also explores the Chinese state's engagement with these norms, shedding new light not only on how the principles of transparency, accountability, and public participation are applied within China, but also on the ability of China to affect international rules. Through close analysis of how norms are adapted locally, the contributors offer insights into the global and national implications of international good governance rules.

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.

The process of globalization has implications for human rights, though the relationship between the two is not always clear. How does globalization effect human rights in local contexts? Globalization, Poverty, and Income Inequality examines the relationships between globalization and trade liberalization, and poverty and income inequality, using Indonesia as a case study. This empirically rigorous investigation finds that although increased trade tends to reduce poverty, there are exceptions. For example, globalization via trade in certified organic coffee has not helped low-income farmers. And globalized access to treatments for visual problems has been countermanded by rising digitization that negatively affects the visually disabled poor. Ultimately, the chapters describe an ambiguous relationship between trade liberalization and inequality, both of which can increase or decrease in proportion to one another depending on region and sector. This empirically driven work provides a nuanced view of the trade-poverty relationship, contributing balanced testimony to policy debates being held internationally.

The process of globalization has implications for human rights, though the relationship between the two is not always clear. How does globalization effect human rights in local contexts? Globalization, Poverty, and Income Inequality examines the relationships between globalization and trade liberalization, and poverty and income inequality, using Indonesia as a case study. This empirically rigorous investigation finds that although increased trade tends to reduce poverty, there are exceptions. For example, globalization via trade in certified organic coffee has not helped low-income farmers. And globalized access to treatments for visual problems has been countermanded by rising digitization that negatively affects the visually disabled poor. Ultimately, the chapters describe an ambiguous relationship between trade liberalization and inequality, both of which can increase or decrease in proportion to one another depending on region and sector. This empirically driven work provides a nuanced view of the trade-poverty relationship, contributing balanced testimony to policy debates being held internationally.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a newfound emphasis on the importance of global health security: the idea that countries must coordinate their efforts globally to address pressing international public health threats while meeting their own specific domestic health care needs. Global Health Security in China, Japan, and India investigates how global health security is evolving in three major Asian countries that have committed to adhering to the international health standards and targets in accordance with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contributors explore three areas of global health security in the SDG agenda: strengthening access to primary health care, protecting and promoting public health, and integrating global markets into health care provision. As this comprehensive volume demonstrates, despite having to balance cost and affordability, stakeholder demands, political ideology, and global economic pressures with decisions about how to best meet global health standards, all three countries have made significant advances in health law and policy over the past decade.