Constitutionalism and Constitutions in China - ATJ500176

• Title: PVP 1 Constitutionalism and Constitutions in China
• Guaranteed by: Department of Sinology (21-KSI)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2024
• Semester: winter
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 7
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unlimited / unlimited (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Mariia Guleva, M.A., Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Mariia Guleva, M.A., Ph.D.

Annotation

The course concentrates on the history of constitutionalism from the late Qing into republican China and on the constitutional changes in the People’s Republic of China. The classes therefore cover such aspects as the emergence of constitution-related debates in late 19th century China, the attempts to transform Qing into a constitutional monarchy, the place of constitution-writing in political shifts of the early Republic of China, the problems of political tutelage and constitutional rule under Guomindang government, constitution-writing in Communist-controlled areas, and the place of constitution in post-1949 transformations. The course pays special attention to the political and ideological importance of constitution under different political systems governing China over the last hundred years. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the evolution of constitutionalism in China, to ensure their knowledge of relevant terminology in Chinese and English, and to deepen their understanding of related debates, both political and academic.

Last update: Guleva Mariia, M.A., Ph.D. (16.06.2024)

Literature

Jennifer Altehenger. 2021. Legal Lessons: Popularizing Laws in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1989. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Asia Center.

Stéphanie Balme and Michael W. Dowdle, eds. 2009. Building Constitutionalism in China: Based on an International Conference on ‘Constitutionalism and Judicial Power in China’ at Sciences Po (CERI) in Paris in December 2005. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Neil J. Diamant. 2021. Useful Bullshit: Constitutions in Chinese Politics and Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Tom Ginsburg and Alberto Simpser, eds. 2013. Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes. Cambridge University Press.

Philip C.C. Huang. 2001. Code, Custom, and Legal Practice in China: The Qing and the Republic Compared. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Ngoc Son Bui, Stuart Hargreaves, and Ryan Mitchell, eds. 2023. Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law in Greater China. London: Routledge.

Jonathan D. Spence. 2013. The Search for Modern China. 3^rd ed., London: W.W.Norton & Company.

Julia C. Strauss. 2020. State Formation in China and Taiwan: Bureaucracy, Campaign, and Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

William L. Tung. 1964. The Political Institutions of Modern China. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

Last update: Guleva Mariia, M.A., Ph.D. (17.10.2024)

Requirements to the exam

class attendance over 75%; essay (between 1300 and 1500 words, including bibliography, topic to be confirmed with the lecturer, essays to be submitted by end of week 13).

Last update: Guleva Mariia, M.A., Ph.D. (16.06.2024)

Syllabus

Introduction: understanding constitutionalism as framework of governance, key concepts and documents in Western praxis (see Ginsburg and Simpser 2013).

Constitutional projects of late Qing: constitutional monarchists, Outline of Constitution by Imperial Decree (Qinding Xianfa Dagang 欽定憲法大綱)—ideas and problems (see Balme and Dowdle 2009, esp. chapter by Xiaohong Xiao-Planes).

Early Republic: constitutions of the 1910s, place of constitution in Sun Yat-sen’s theories, parliamentary debates and failure of constitutionalism under Yuan Shikai, Constitutional Protection Movement (see Tung 1964, esp. chapters 2-4).

Constitutional transformations of Guomindang government: Provisional Constitution of the Political Tutelage Period of 1931 (Balme and Dowdle 2009, Tung 1964).

Adoption of the 1947 RoC Constitution: debates; final text; obstructed implementation. Constitutional changes in Taiwan: end of martial law and amendments to 1946 Constitution.

Constitutional grounds of the early PRC: The Common Program of The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1949) and the 1954 Constitution, their adoption, contents, and implementation (Balme and Dowdle 2009, esp. chapter by Glenn D. Tiffert; Altehenger 2021; Diamant 2021).

1982 Constitution: basic contents (prior to amendments) and place in constitutional transformations of the PRC.

Amendments to 1982 Constitution: stages and contents, discussion over the most recent changes.

Balance of power: government, party, and society in constitution and in practice.

Human rights: regulation in constitution and debates over violations.

Last update: Guleva Mariia, M.A., Ph.D. (12.11.2024)