Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
This project investigates China’s efforts to reshape public interest lawyering—from a civil society-based movement challenging the status quo to a state-centric practice prioritizing government objectives. By the late 2000s, China had developed a thriving public interest law sector, including human rights advocates and pro bono lawyers addressing issues such as environmental protection and religious freedom. However, policy shifts under the Xi Jinping administration have fundamentally altered this landscape. The first shift involves the systematic repression and cooptation of public interest actors. The state has imposed various restrictions, including criminal sanctions, heightened monitoring, and media censorship, on numerous NGOs and lawyers perceived as politically threatening, while simultaneously seeking to co-opt others by offering state funding, political protection, and opportunities to influence policymaking. Another major development is the rise of prosecutorial public interest litigation, which empowers the People’s Procuratorates to file lawsuits in defense of the public interest. Leveraging their political and resource advantages, prosecutors have expanded their litigation efforts to over 100,000 cases annually, addressing a broad range of issues such as women's protection and cybersecurity. As a result, the state, rather than civil society, has become the dominant force in China’s legal mobilization.
This study represents the first systematic effort to theoretically and empirically assess the "nationalization" of China’s public interest legal sector. It will involve multiple rounds of fieldwork with lawyers, NGO leaders, prosecutors, and party officials, supplemented by an analysis of court cases, policy documents, and media reports. The primary output will be a book, tentatively titled Nationalizing Legal Mobilization: The Transformation of Public Interest Lawyering in China, alongside a journal article synthesizing its key findings. The book will feature empirical chapters on the transformation of both society- and state-led public interest lawyering, as well as chapters addressing the theoretical and comparative implications of these changes. This project will make significant contributions to scholarship on legal mobilization, authoritarian legality, and state-society relations, both within China studies and in comparative analyses of nondemocratic legal systems. In particular, it will contribute to the ongoing debate about the role of public interest lawyers under autocracies and hybrid regimes. Additionally, the project will offer practical insights for policymakers on structuring and funding legal actors to enhance the efficacy of public interest protection, while guiding legal actors on how to navigate this new state-dominated landscape.
本项目旨在考察中国如何重塑公共利益法律实践——从以公民社会为基础、挑战既有秩序的运动，转向以国家为中心、服务政府目标的运作模式。到二十世纪二十年代末，中国已形成颇具规模的公共利益法律部门，包括聚焦环保、刑事正义等议题的人权倡导者和公益律师。然而，在中国现任政府主导下的政策调整已从根本上改变了这一格局。第一重变化是对公共利益行动者的系统性压制与收编。国家针对被视为政治威胁的众多社会组织与律师实施刑事制裁、加强监控、媒体审查等多种限制；与此同时，又通过提供国家资助、政治保护及参与政策制定的机会，试图将部分行动者纳入体制。另一项重要发展是检察机关公共利益诉讼的兴起，赋予人民检察院以公共利益为由提起诉讼的权力。依托政治与资源优势，检察机关将此类诉讼拓展至每年十万余件，涵盖妇女权益保护、网络安全等广泛领域。因此，在中国的法律动员中，主导力量已由民间社会转向国家。
本研究是迄今为止首次从理论与实证层面系统评估中国公益法律部门“国家化”进程的尝试。研究将通过多轮田野调查，访谈律师、社会组织 负责人、检察官和党政官员，并辅以案例审判记录、政策文件和媒体报道的分析。主要成果包括一本暂定书名为《法律动员的国家化：公益法律实践在中国的转型》的专著，以及一篇综合其核心发现的学术论文。专著将设有实证章节，分别论述社会主导与国家主导的公共利益法律实践转变，并有专章探讨此种变化的理论与比较意义。本项目将对法律动员和国家—社会关系的研究产生重要贡献，不仅丰富中国研究领域，也有助于对其他非民主法制体系的比较分析。尤其是，它将为混合政体下公益律师的角色定位提供新的视角。此外，项目还将为政策制定者在公共利益保护领域如何构建和资助法律行动者提出切实建议，并为法律实践者在这一国家主导的新环境中提供应对思路。
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