Rights Defence Lawyers and Constitutionalism in China

学者们认为，维权律师通过界定和捍卫公民权利、发展公民社会、寻求适度国家权力，在推动转型社会的社会和政治变革中发挥了关键作用。然而，很少有研究考察律师在当代中国中的政治角色或抱负。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力量聚集在一起，成为宪法改革的清晰声音。该项目旨在为全世界关于维权律师、法治、社会激进主义和政治改革之间相互作用的辩论作出经验和理论上的贡献。

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.