Rights Defence Lawyers and Constitutionalism in China

学者们认为，人权律师通过界定和捍卫公民权利、发展公民社会以及寻求缓和国家权力，在改革中的社会中发挥了推动社会和政治变革的关键作用。然而，很少有研究考察当代中国律师的政治角色或政治诉求。这个项目旨在展示中国的“维权”律师如何将不同的社会抗议活动聚集在一起，成为宪法改革的清晰声音。该项目旨在为关于权利律师、法治、社会行动主义和政治改革之间相互作用的世界范围辩论作出经验和理论贡献。

Scholars have argued that rights lawyers have played key roles in advancing social and political change in a reforming society through defining and defending citizen rights, developing civil society, and seeking to moderate state power. However, few studies have examined the political roles or aspirations of lawyers in contemporary China. This project aims to demonstrate how Chinese 'rights defence' lawyers have drawn together diverse strands of social protest to become an articulating voice for constitutional reform. The project aims to make both empirical and theoretical contributions to the world-wide debate on the interaction between rights lawyers, rule of law, social activism and political reform.