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LAUREN BENTON, From Structure to Process: Towards a New Approach to Law in the Informal Sector

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 June 1994
Published date01 June 1994
DOI10.1177/096466399400300207
Subject MatterArticles
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ABSTRACTS
CAROL A. G. JONES, Capitalism, Globalizatzon and Rule of Law: An Alternative
Trajectory of Legal Change in China
The globalization of capital has led some theorists to speculate on the adoption of Western
legal practices as developing societies intersect with the global market. This article
examines this thesis in relation to current developments in the People’s Republic of China
(seeking to develop ’socialism with Chinese characteristics’) as well as in the more
developed economies and legal systems of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South
Korea - the so-called ’Four Little Dragons’. All four - and China - share a common
cultural heritage; some theorists also suggest that they have developed a distinctive form
of ’Chinese capitalism’ that emphasizes particularistic rather than univeralistic values, that
is ’rule of relationships’ rather than ’rule of law’. This emphasis upon relational ties with its
marginalization of formal law, taken together with a ’neo-authoritarian’ model of
government favoured by the East Asian NICs, may more adequately explain the
spectacular growth of this region in recent decades than theories which regard a developed
legal order and ’rule of law’ as inextricably linked to the development of market
economies. Where these economies intersect with the global market, the impact of
Western legal practices will be far less influential than current theories of globalization of
law allow.
LAUREN BENTON, From...

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