Socialist Constitutionalism in Contemporary China

Abstract

This chapter examines the Chinese discourse on a socialist vision of constitutionalism as an alternative to liberal constitutionalism. 1 Chinese scholars have been searching for a new constitutionalism – one which differs from the so- called state- socialism of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and at the same time also goes beyond liberal constitutionalism. This ‘socialist constitutionalism’ can be seen as a subversive vision of socialism, one that Chinese scholars are developing to challenge the state’s present political order. Because China’s ideological commitment to socialism predates the constitutionalisation of the Chinese state, heterodox constitutional theorists are able to use this new conceptualisation to construct a new constitutionalist discourse that challenges the authoritarian and developmentalist vision of socialism espoused by China’s ruling party-state apparatus. Th is new socialist constitutionalism differs from the Chinese state’s authoritarian socialism by focusing on the value of popular sovereignty and civil society. It differs from liberal constitutionalism in its focus on providing effective and responsive governance rather than simply limited and constrained government.