State, Market, Society: Law and Development in Contemporary China

Author: Liang Zhiping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: This book is one of the first works in China to focus on the theme of law and development. The authors, commentators, and discussants of this book come from multiple disciplines, including law, economics, political science, sociology, history, and philosophy. For a long time, due to the division of disciplines and specialization, the themes discussed in this book have often been addressed separately by scholars from different disciplines. Generally, "the state" falls under political science, "the market" under economics, "society" under sociology, "law" remains within the realm of legal studies, "development" is categorized under economics, and "constitutionalism" research is confined to the boundaries of normative constitutionalism. There is little interaction between different disciplines, even fewer intellectual exchanges or the integration of perspectives. The resulting intellectual weakness and lack of theoretical resources make it difficult for us to provide sound and robust theoretical responses to a series of accumulated and highly challenging issues. To gradually change this situation and provide scholars from different disciplines with various forms of dialogue spaces is crucial. This book is an attempt in this direction. It includes 15 essays, each followed by comments and discussions. The "Appendix" contains the records of a roundtable meeting, with the theme being "How to Build a Just Society?"