This panel explores relationships between sovereign prerogative, legality and rights in different Asian contexts. Eva Pils and Rawin Leelapatana apply long-standing theorisation about exceptional state power to contemporary politics in China and Thailand respectively. Pils draws on Frankel‘s conception of the “dual state“ to analyse the reversion to arbitrary displays of state power in China....
Tag: <span>Surabhi Chopra</span>
Impunity and public law in India: Lessons for challenging constitutional retrogression in liberal democracies
Focusing on India, I analyse long-running friction between the national and state governments over their constitutional powers to investigate abuses by the military. The national government argues that states cannot inquire into unlawful violence by soldiers. The Manipur government demurs, citing its duty to manage public protest against the military‘s misdeeds. I also look at...
Reluctant Reviewers: Judicial Responses to Social and Economic Rights in Indonesia and the Philippines
A. Sen has argued that the law lacks proper purchase on economic and social rights because these rights impose “imperfect“ obligations, involving complex decisions about standards and resources. Courts have tended to agree and traditionally been wary of enforcing these rights. However, courts in some developing countries jettisoned this tradition. The Indian and South African...