The Rule of Law in China and Comparative Perspectives. London; New York: Routledge, 2017. vi, 235 pp. (Figures.) US$140.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-4724-8614-1.
During 2014, massive student-led demonstrations in Taiwan in March-April and in Hong Kong in September-December provided dramatic evidence that considerable political polarization existed in both societies. Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement was centered on a three-week occupation of the country’s Legislative Yuan protesting the attempt of KMT President Ma Ying-jeou to ram the highly controversial Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) through parliament. Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement erupted as a protest against a Chinese decision that, in essence, made it almost impossible for a pro-democracy candidate to be nominated for Chief Executive in the 2017 elections and represented the culmination of a series of disputes over the degree of democracy that Hong Kong would be allowed. Brian Christopher Jones’ edited Law and Politics of the Taiwan Sunflower and Hong Kong Umbrella Movements represents a sophisticated analysis of these two movements.
Parts I and II, plus one chapter in part III, considers these two important student movements individually from several analytic perspectives. Regarding the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan, Brian Christopher Jones and Yen-Tu Su conceptualize the Movement as a case of “confrontational contestation,” but they also argue that “democratic compromise” should prevail in its aftermath. Wen-Chen Chang analyzes the legal issues raised by the Sunflowers concerning the right to free assembly, with a particular focus on Taiwan’s domestic Assembly and Parade Act of 1992 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Taiwan ratified in 2009. Jiunn-Rong Yeh argues that the Sunflower Movement has enhanced the country’s “civic constitutionalism,” in which civil society assumes an active role to supplement the workings of courts and representative bodies. For Hong Kong, Albert H.Y. Chen presents an overview of Hong Kong’s governance from colonial times to the present, with a focus on the post-1997 period when the tension between the pro-democracy forces on the one side and China, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, and pro-establishment Hongkongers on the other over voting procedures escalated to the point of exploding in 2014. Fu Hualing raises several important issues relating to the Umbrella Movement, including the growing fears, especially among the young, that Hong Kong’s many achievements were under threat, the vision of “civic constitutionalism” that the protesters represented, the double-edged sword that the “rule of law” afforded the pro-democracy groups, and the growing polarization in Hong Kong’s politics and society. Daniel Matthews applies the concept of nomos, or the underlying normative foundation of a society, to develop an innovative interpretation of the Umbrella Movement as challenging in the very limited public space in the city and as shifting the cultural identities of Hongkongers. Chih-hsing Ho uses the Umbrella Movement as a case study illustrating the philosophical and legal issues about whether civil disobedience should or should not be punished, and concludes that the Hong Kong High Court took a very narrow perspective on when civil disobedience can be considered a right.
Three chapters in part III explicitly compare the Sunflower and Umbrella Movements; and part IV draws implications from the individual analyses in the book. Cheng-Yi Huang develops the concept of “unpopular sovereignty,” which exists when the people in a political unit are clearly not the source of the sovereignty exercised by their government, and argues that the Constitution of the Republic of China and the Basic Law deny popular sovereignty to the people of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Chien-Huei Wu tests the hypothesis that Taiwan’s and Hong Kong’s growing economic integration with China will undermine their democracy and rule of law and finds support for this thesis in some areas but not in others. Based on a personally conducted survey that focused on younger Chinese urbanites, Han Zhu concludes that most had an unfavorable view of the Umbrella Movement but were only marginally engaged with the Sunflower Movement, that this unfavorable evaluation was based on the perceived economic and social effects of the respective protest, and that they valued the rule of law over democracy. Brad R. Roth provides an overview of seven of the nine chapters in parts I–III and uses the issues associated with the relationship between political obligation and civil disobedience as a framework for synthesizing their arguments and insights. Jacques Delisle concludes that the Sunflower and Umbrella Movements both reflect challenges from China, were examples of civic constitutionalism and the invoking of “transcendent principles,” represented a not-always positive “intertwining of politics and law,” involved the growing impact of economic issues on their debates, and showed that China’s assumptions about Hong Kong and Taiwan were rather faulty. In contrast, the cases differ greatly insofar as China’s ability to affect these two polities.
Law and Politics of the Taiwan Sunflower and Hong Kong Umbrella Movements is an important book. It provides a sophisticated and insightful treatment of two massive student demonstrations. It goes well beyond simply describing and chronologizing these events. Rather, it raises complex issues regarding constitutional law, political philosophy, and public policy analysis. Consequently, it should be of interest to a broad readership.
Cal Clark
Auburn University, Auburn, USA