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Full-Text Articles in Law
When Do Chinese Subnational Governments Make Law?, Wei Cui, Jiang Wan
When Do Chinese Subnational Governments Make Law?, Wei Cui, Jiang Wan
All Faculty Publications
How often does law get made in China, and what kinds of law? We construct a dataset on subnational lawmaking to address these questions. The dataset builds on a basic insight: Chinese politicians choose among three types of instruments to implement policy—statutes, regulations, and informal policy directives (IPDs). IPDs are easier to promulgate than statutes and regulations, and the fact that they lack the force of law rarely impedes enforcement. Why then do politicians make law at all? Several findings shed light on this puzzle. First, the choice between formal lawmaking and IPDs depends on the policy subject. Second, provinces …
Decentralizing Legislation In China’S Law On Legislation Amendment, Wei Cui, Jiang Wan
Decentralizing Legislation In China’S Law On Legislation Amendment, Wei Cui, Jiang Wan
All Faculty Publications
We present a novel account of China’s recent move to decentralize legislation through amending the Law on Legislation (LL). Conventional wisdom pervading both Chinese political discourse and social scientific scholarship on China portrays law as incompatible with experimentation and as only suitable for codifying policies adopted after experimentation. Moreover, the value of legislatures is viewed as lying in their independence from the executive branch. We highlight rationales offered by the Chinese Communist Party for the LL amendment that repudiate these assumptions: the Party proclaimed the intention to promote lawmaking as a central instrument of policy experimentation; moreover, the Party’s intervention …