Michael C. Davis

The Quest for Self-Rule in Tibet

The article provides an overview of intra-party candidate selection methods. It explains the significance of candidate selection and presents two main elements that distinguish between candidate selection methods: the inclusiveness of the selectorate and the level of their centralization. After examining the different methods used in several established and new democracies, it outlines their political consequences and suggests a way to design an optimally balanced method. Although methods of candidate selection have received surprisingly little study by political scientists, they merit the attention of students of democracy everywhere.

East Asia After the Crisis: Human Rights, Constitutionalism, and State Reform

Much recent analysis of the political economy of development in East Asia focuses on questions of market liberalization and the adequacy of the international institutions involved in the economic crisis of the 1990s. Focusing on political institutions, this article urges an emphasis on liberal constitutionalism as a long-term strategy. Authoritarian regimes with markets and currencies that were protected fared reasonably well. Democracies with liberal institutions were resilient. The combination of authoritarian developmentalism and market liberalization fared the worse. But authoritarian developmentalism is not sustainable. Constitutionalism, if properly conceived, may provide the institutional reliability and accountability upon which sustained development depends.

Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement: Beijing's Broken Promises

Abstract:China’s “one country, two systems” model elaborated in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and the 1990 Hong Kong Basic Law promise Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, universal suffrage, human rights and the rule of law. The June 2014 Chinese White Paper on the “one country, two systems” model and the August 2014 NPC Standing Committee decision on democratic development undermined both the rule of law and Hong Kong’s democratic development. This essay argues Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model is broken. A high degree of autonomy and the rule of law can no longer be maintained without democracy.

The Political Economy and Culture of Human Rights in East Asia

East Asian experience has long featured prominently among contemporary debates concerning human rights and development. The authoritarian East Asian challenge to human rights has set human rights in opposition to Asian cultural values and related East Asian developmental needs. While several East Asian countries have defied these claims and established constitutional democracies with liberal human rights protections, several others, including China and other post-communist countries in Southeast Asia, have continued to press these Asian values and developmental arguments to justify authoritarianism and severe limits on human rights. At a time when various UN reports relate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to human rights and good governance, several newly industrialized countries in East Asia have led the world in economic development. This chapter will argue that full realization of the promise of these achievements ultimately depends on constitutional reform that embraces democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Strengthening Constitutionalism in Asia

Much has been written about the retreat of liberal democracy. In Asia, a region where the notion of illiberal democracy has long been advocated, illiberalism and populism have spawned numerous constitutional crises. Drawing on experience from countries across Asia, this article stresses seven principles as a roadmap to establishing and maintaining a liberal constitutional democracy. These cover all stages of the process, from early mobilization and constitution-making to full implementation and consolidation, and they address issues of institutional autonomy, popular engagement, and ethnic and regional inclusion. Efforts at democratization in Asia have too often given insufficient attention to constitutional fundamentals and popular inclusion as critical ingredients on the path to establishing and maintaining stable democracies.

The Jurisprudence of Human Rights Law: A Comparative Interpretive Approach (review)

This useful volume completes the summary of the case-law of the “old” European Court of Human Rights (1960– 1998) begun in the previous three volumes. Since 1999, reform of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has led to the constitution of a “new” European Court of Human Rights, a full-time institution doing the work of both the “old” Court and the European Commission of Human Rights. The Court now boasts forty-three judges from each of the fortythree states now party to the Convention. Based in Strasbourg, the Court rendered more than 700 judgments in nearly four decades. Peter Kempees’ book is a worthwhile reference tool. Under each article of the Convention it reproduces in a sensible order a paragraph or two from pertinent cases. A student, scholar, lawyer, or judge can therefore use the book as a pointer to the full case. The book also includes the most important international agreements constituting the by-now formidable Strasbourg legal system, lists of all the Court’s judgments 1960–1998, an index, and an introductory “Notes to Users of this Volume.” This two-page introduction is very helpful for most users of the book and might have been expanded to provide an even better background to the Court.