Law, Policy, and Practice on China's Periphery: Selective Adaptation and Institutional Capacity

by Pitman B. Potter

This book examines the Chinese government’s policies and practices for relations with the Inner Periphery areas of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, and the Outer Periphery areas of Hong Kong and Taiwan focusing on themes of political authority, socio-cultural relations, and economic development. China’s history may be seen as one of managing the geographic periphery surrounding China proper. Successive imperial, republican, and communist governments have struggled to maintain sovereignty over the regions surrounding the great river valleys of China.

The importance of the periphery is no less real today, concerns over national security, access to natural resources, and long-held concerns about relations between Han and other ethnic groups continue to dominate Chinese law, policy and practice regarding governance in the Inner Periphery regions of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. In the Outer Periphery, Beijing sees engagement with the outside world (particularly the West) as inextricably tied to Chinese sovereignty over former foreign colonies of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Using the case study of national integration to indicate how policies are articulated and implemented through law and political-legal institutions, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of the peripheral regions. It will also appeal to academic and policy communities interested in legal reform in China

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2010

About the author

Pitman B. Potter is Emeritus Professor of Law and Director of Chinese Legal Studies at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, Director of UBC’s Institute of Asian Research. He is an internationally acclaimed scholar of Law in the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.

Reviews

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"The practical divisions of power and authority between local and central government departments permit an interplay of power and politics between the central and sub-national governments that echoes practices of federalism (Dougherty and McGuckin 2002; Dougherty, McGuckin, and Radzin 2002). "