China and the making of modern international law

Until quite recently, the role of Chinese and other non-Western actors has been systematically erased from the historical memory of international law. Paradoxically, this Euro- and Anglocentric bias is reinforced by postcolonial and other critical approaches, which often depict international law as little more than a political instrument in the hands of powerful Western states. By contrast, the fact that key norms and institutions anchoring the contemporary international order were shaped by the interventions of non-Western jurists and diplomats has long been neglected. 

Situated at the intersection of legal and intellectual history, my current book project seeks to fill this gap. Making use of extensive archival research across three continents, it questions prevailing narratives of the country’s past encounter with the Western-dominated global order. My research finds that Chinese actors shaped the institutional and normative structure of contemporary international relations in crucial, albeit often surprising ways. Whether it be the outlawry of states’ right to wage war or the progressive codification of international law, republican Chinese elites were animated by a widespread, and historically unprecedented ethos of “legal internationalism.”

My book will trace the rise and decline of this internationalist agenda through the tumultuous first half of Chinas twentieth century. In so doing, it contributes to a better understanding of the appeal, limitations, and self-contradictions of international law. At the same time, it suggests that the forgotten story of China’s internationalists demands a reinterpretation of many core themes in Chinese history, be it imperialism, revolution, or the “unequal treaties.” 

Above: Chinese jurists Wang Chonghui (王寵惠) and Zhou Zechun (周澤春) at the University of Berlin [Source: Reclam Weltrundschau, Heft 14, 30 December 1909, page 624].

Left: Members of China’s first delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva, 1920 [Source: League of Nations Archive, Photograph Collection, item P045_01_042].

Political ideology and constitutional backsliding in contemporary China

In addition to my work in the history of international law, I am interested in political debates in contemporary China, particularly as they pertain to questions about constitutionalism, state authority, and the rule of law. Beyond window dressing, how can we make sense of constitutions in a political context characterized by single-party rule and the absence of judicial mechanisms for effective checks on executive power? What is the nature of the relationship between constitutional text and political reality, legal normativity and exceptional decision-making, in post-reform China?

My work examines the opposing ways Chinese jurists have proposed to answer these questions. In my first article on the topic, I assess the influence of the controversial German political and legal theorist Carl Schmitt on contemporary Chinese constitutional theory. Whilst showing that Schmitt’s thought informs neoconservative attempts at legitimating legally unrestrained party authority, it also demonstrates how, somewhat counter-intuitively, Schmitt’s ideas came to inspire liberal endeavors at rethinking the prospects of meaningful constitutional change.

I have further expanded on this theme in more recent articles, which contextualize the rise of neoconservative political ideology against a wider intellectual trend of historicist, counter-enlightenment, and neo-Eurasian thought  both within and outside of China. Of particular interest in this regard is the interplay between the constitutional regression in China and the deterioration of the overall geopolitical climate during the last decade, which paved the way for the current confrontation in Sino-Western relations.

Cover of the Chinese edition of Carl Schmitt’s “Political Theology,” published in 2015 by Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe. The text at the bottom describes Schmitt as “the most controversial political thinker of the twentieth century” and “Europe’s last public lawyer.”

Whats next? Upcoming research projects

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