Human rights in China : a social practice in the shadows of authoritarianism / Eva Pils.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pils, Eva, author.

Series:

China today series (Cambridge, England)

China today

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights--China.

Human rights.

Authoritarianism.

Human rights movements.

Human rights advocacy.

China.

Human rights advocacy--China.

Human rights movements--China.

Authoritarianism--China.

Physical Description:

xv, 228 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity Press, 2018.

Summary:

"How can we make sense of human rights in China's authoritarian system? In this insightful book, China law expert Eva Pils offers a nuanced account of this contentious area, examining human rights as a set of social practices involving a variety of actors, including officials of the system and civil society actors. Drawing on a wide range of resources including years of interaction with Chinese human rights defenders, Pils discusses sources of human rights violations, as well as institutional avenues of protection and social practices of human rights defence. Three central areas are given special attention: liberty and integrity of the person and the right not to be tortured; freedom of thought and expression; and inequality and socio-economic rights. Pils argues that the Party-State system is inherently opposed to human rights principles in all these areas. Yet, civil society actors have developed social practices of human rights advocacy whose political significance is not entirely dependent on the Party-State. Despite authoritarianism's lengthening shadows, China's human rights movement has so far proved resourceful and resilient, and the trajectories discussed in this book will continue to shape ongoing struggles"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Human Rights and Competing Conceptions of Justice, Law and Power 9

The yuan tradition of righting wrongs 13

The rights tradition 16

Official counterdiscourses 20

Conclusion 31

2 Institutional Avenues of Human Rights Advocacy 32

The place of human rights in the normative framework 33

Institutional avenues: the judiciary 43

Institutional avenues: letters and visits' and the media 47

Advocacy as resistance 51

Conclusion 54

3 Liberty and Life 55

Restrictions of personal liberty 57

Torture 64

The right to life and the death penalty 69

Conclusion 75

4 Expression and Thought 77

The limits of the right of free expression 79

Censorship and crimes of expression 82

'Smart' technologies of expression vs 'smart' control technologies 87

'Public opinion guidance', 'thought work' and 'social credit' governance 92

Conclusion 98

5 Inequality and Socio-economic Rights 100

The impact of urbanization on land and housing rights 103

Education rights of rural and migrant worker children 108

The human rights effects of environmental degradation 114

Conclusion 117

6 Rights Defenders 121

The emergence of civil society advocates 123

The consequences of authoritarian revival 135

Conclusion 143.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: Map Chronology Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. Human Rights and Competing Conceptions of Justice, Law and Power in China 2. Institutional Avenues of Human Rights Advocacy 3. Liberty and Life 4. Expression and Thought 5. Inequality and Socio-economic Rights 6. Rights Defenders Conclusion Notes.

Other Format:

Online version: Pils, Eva, author. Human rights in China

ISBN:

9781509500697

1509500693

9781509500703

1509500707

OCLC:

985950050