Epic clashes between democracy and the rule of law now increasingly arise in many Asian jurisdictions. Indeed, these new battlegrounds have demonstrated a global reality: that these vastly important principles not only complement one other and help to sustain governments and nations, but also frequently converge, thus jeopardising such institutional arrangements. Recent events in East...
Bringing the Sunflower Movement into Perspective: Building the Rule of Law on a Flawed Political Foundation
The Sunflower Movement will go down in Taiwan‘s history as one of the most significant incidents in the 21st century, yet we are only beginning to understand its significance. I use Weingast‘s theory of democratic consolidation to argue that the Cross-Strait Service Pact crossed the limit of the institutional capacity of TW‘s constitutional design, exposing...
Challenges to the rule of law in a semi-authoritarian Hong Kong
Hong Kong has been recognized for its well established rule of law. After the Umbrella Movement in 2014, the Chinese Communist regime adjusted its strategy towards Hong Kong and closed the road to democracy. With the end of the era of semi-democracy, the governing system in Hong Kong is now going in an authoritarian direction....
Changing Ideas of Representation: Representative Democracy, and the Rule of Law in Singapore
This paper examines recent pronouncements, both in and outside of courts, concerning the nature of representative democracy and how it relates to the rule of law in Singapore. Given that conceptions of the rule of law are theorized to require the incorporation of democracy into the legal system, this article examines the implications of recent...
Democratic Legitimacy vs. Rule of Law: A Comparative Study of Oath-taking Controversies in Hong Kong and Taiwan
In 2016 some pro-independence advocates in Hong Kong attempted to enter into the Legislative Council to promote their causes. Their political endeavors were thwarted by the legal means sought by the authorities. Six members-elect of the LegCo were disqualified by the courts for invalidly taking the oath. Similar controversies also played out in Taiwan as...
The Rule of Law in China and its Problems
This paper begins with a description and an assessment of China‘s 40 years‘ construction of the rule-of-law. Section I discusses the conceptual framework I use to describe and evaluate China‘s rule-of-law construction, and then offers a brief account of the past 40 years of China from the perspective of the rule of law. Despite the...