Law at the End of the Day

Larry Catá Backer's comments on current issues in transnational law and policy. These essays focus on the constitution of regulatory communities (political, economic, and religious) as they manage their constituencies and the conflicts between them. The context is globalization. This is an academic field-free zone: expect to travel "without documents" through the sometimes strongly guarded boundaries of international relations, constitutional, international, comparative, and corporate law.

Saturday, May 02, 2026

Now Available--Vol 35 No 159 Journal of Contemporary China (May 2026)

I am delighted to pass along a message from Professor Suisheng Zhao (赵穗生), and Editor of the Journal of Contemporary China (JCC) announcing the publication of Volume 35, Issue 159, May 2026 issue of The Journal of Contemporary China (JCC) is now available online. If the library of your institution subscribes to the JCC, you can view the full text of the article and others online at:http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjcc20/current.

Of particular interest to some may be the essays published around the issue's three related areas of research focus. The first is The Development of Party-State Institutions for Policymaking in China’s New Era (I). The second is The Making of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy in Xi’s New Era (I). The third is China’s Relations with Periphery Countries: Security, Economy, and Authoritarianism (II). The three flow together: the first touches on structures and frameworks for articulating and operationalizing the fundamental political line of the nation; the second touches on the protection of internal solidarity from outside interference and thus the protection of the elaborated fundamental political line. The third then focuses on the exteriorization of that political line in China's borderlands, which serve both as a defensive line but also as a template for the internationalization of both the fundamental political line and its adaptation in national contexts sometimes quite different from that of China.

The introduction, authored by Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, Emilie Szwajnoch, Alexander Trauth-Goik, Ausma Bernot, Fan Liang & Ashley Poon, "Navigating Through The Fog: Reflexive Accounts on Researching China’s Digital Surveillance, Censorship, and Other Sensitive Topics" sets out aims of the six essays that comprise this special focus:

Researching China’s sensitive topics, such as digital surveillance and censorship, exposes scholars to mounting challenges including difficult field and internet access to quality information, scrutiny and security of research participants and researchers, and positionality amidst geopolitical tensions. This article presents self-reflexive accounts from six scholars of diverse backgrounds, fields, and career stages who work through varied methods, positionalities, and epistemic approaches. We share our research journeys’ challenges and coping strategies to aid scholars, beyond China or digital surveillance and censorship. We propose that reflexivity is essential for scholarly work on contentious or opaque topics; that the China studies research community should organize knowledge sharing and cross-training; and that academia should create emotional support structures for researchers who encounter surveillance and restrictions.

The full essay is open access. For your convenience, below is the Table of Contents of the May 2026 issue of The Journal of Contemporary China, and the essay "Navigating Through The Fog: Reflexive Accounts on Researching China’s Digital Surveillance, Censorship, and Other Sensitive Topics".

Journal of Contemporary China

Volume 35, Issue 159, May 2026

The Development of Party-State Institutions for Policymaking in China’s New Era (I)

The Communist Party of China’s New Central Department of Social Work: Neo[1]Socialist Governance or Bolshevized Party Discipline?

Frank N. Pieke

Pages: 1467-1479

Between Centralism and Localism: Dual Mobility Regimes in the Chinese Bureaucracy

Xueguang Zhou and Ling Zhu

Pages: 1480-1505

Securing Legitimacy Through Poverty Alleviation: How China’s Communist Party Strengthens Grassroots Control

Yu Cheng

Pages:1506-1526

Navigating Uncertainty: The Use of Expert Deliberation in China’s Policymaking

Yoel Kornreich

Pages:1527-1544

The Making of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy in Xi’s New Era (I)

The Chinese Restrictive Approach to the Law on the Use of Force and Its Application

in Cyberspace

Yaohui Ying and Zehua Shi

Pages:1545-1559

Toward a Perfection of Nuclear Strategy: China’s Adoption of Limited Nuclear Deterrence in the Xi Jinping Era

Haneol Lee

Pages:1560-1581

How China’s Multilateral Engagement Shapes Threat Perception Amid Rising Authoritarianism

Jungmin Han, Xin Han and Alexander Zhang

Pages:1582-1599

China’s Relations with Periphery Countries: Security, Economy, and Authoritarianism (II)

China’s Interventions in ‘Gray Special Economic Zones’ in Southeast Asia’s Borderlands

Selina Ho, Xue Gong and Carla P. Freeman

Pages:1600-1616

Amity, Security, Influence: Explaining China’s Policy Toward Afghanistan, 1949–2024

Feng Zhang

Pages:1617-1632

Research Article

How the Integration of Rurality and Modernization Promotes Homeowner Autonomy: Evidence from Chinese County Communities

Zelei Xiao, Yifei Li and Yingying Zheng

Pages: 1633-1652

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About this Site:

At the end of the day, law?

. . . . Emperors and kings

Are but obeyed in their several provinces,

Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds;

But his domain that exceeds in this

Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.

A sound magician is a mighty god.

* * *

Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,

And burned is Apollo's laurel bough,

That sometimes grew within this learned man.

Faustus is gone; regard his hellish fall,

Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise

Only to wonder at unlawful things,

Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits

To practise more than heavenly power permits.

Christopher Marlowe, "Dr. Faustus" (before 1593)

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All essays are (c) Larry Catá Backer except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
The essays may be cited and quoted with appropriate reference. Suggested reference as follows:
Larry Catá Backer, [Essay Title], Law at the End of the Day, ([Essay Posting Date]) available at [http address].

The author holds a faculty appointment at Pennsylvania State University. Notice is hereby given that irrespective of that appointment, this blog serves as a purely personal enterprise created to serve as an independent site focusing on issues of general concern to the public. The views and opinions expressed here are those of its author. This site is neither affiliated with nor does it in any way state, reflect, or represent the views of Pennsylvania State University or any of its entities, units or affiliates.

Globalization Law and Policy Series from Ashgate Publishing

About the Series:

Globalization: Law and Policy will include an integrated body
of scholarship that critically addresses key issues and theoretical debates in comparative and transnational law. Volumes in the series will focus on the consequential effects of globalization, including emerging frameworks and processes for the internationalization, legal harmonization, juridification and democratization of law among increasingly connected political, economic, religious, cultural, ethnic and other functionally differentiated governance communities. This series is intended as a resource for scholars, students, policy makers and civil society actors, and will include a balance of theoretical and policy studies in single-authored volumes and collections of original essays.

An interview with the Series Editor

Queries and book proposals may be directed to:
Larry Catá Backer
W. Richard and Mary Eshelman Faculty Scholar
and Professor of Law, Professor of International Affairs
Pennsylvania State University
239 Lewis Katz Building
University Park, PA 16802
email: lcb911@gmail.com

or

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