Rule of Law in China

Oxford Analytica reports that since 2004 the “protection of constitutional rights have subsided in China.” More specifically, since 2008, a new political doctrine “requires all judges to uphold ‘the Party’s cause, the people’s interests, and the constitution and the law’ as ‘supreme.’ By contrast, an independent rule of law would require supremacy of the constitution only. Courts have also been instructed to follow earlier models of adjudication practised under Mao Zedong (pre-1976), when the party-state saw courts as instruments of ‘people’s dictatorship’ and used legal processes to fight ‘the people’s enemies.’”

The progression of an independent rule of law in China through changes in judicial practice will be enhanced through international instruments in the broader multilnational community. As China assumes broader responsibilities as a stakeholder in the international system, an independent rule of law will be fostered.