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Constitutional Mobilisation in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2017

Bui Ngoc Son
Bui Ngoc Son*
Affiliation:
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore Faculty of Law; PhD, The University of Hong Kong (2013). E-mail: ngocson@connect.hku.hk.
*
ngocson@connect.hku.hk
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Abstract

This paper examines recent constitutional mobilisation in China, embodied in the weiquan (right defence) movement, Charter 08 and the 2013 constitutionalism debate. It contrasts Chinese and Vietnamese experience of constitutional mobilisation. This paper argues that constitutional mobilisation in China presents both convergence and divergence with those in Vietnam. The convergence stems from domestic dynamics, the impact of globalisation and the shared features of socialist/communist institutional settings. The divergence is due to Chinese constitutional exceptionalism and Vietnam's instrumentalist approach to global constitutionalism. Particularly, without necessary constitutional opportunity created by the constitution-making process, constitutional mobilisation in China has not created a national constitutional dialogue as has happened in Vietnam. This paper draws attention to the new function of socialist constitutions as a frame for social mobilisation and has general implications for the comparative inquiry into the social dynamics of constitutional law.

Type
Article
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 335 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

I greatly appreciate the support of the Centre for Asian Legal Studies.

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