Description

This leadership of a political party lies at the heart of the Chinese constitution. At first sight, this might appear to be a singular feature of the Chinese constitutional order. There are obvious and important differences between the way china insulates party power and the party power slips through the cracks of more liberal constitutions. However, the ccp is not the only party that plays a leading role. The constitutional account of its leadership sheds light on the way all parties inhabit organs of state.

China’s constitutional order is not unique. The constitutional role of the ccp is an extreme example of a global phenomenon with important implications for other state. Political parties play an important part in almost all constitutional orders, but they are enigmatic subjects of constitutional law. They can be private subjects, with private rights. They can be public utilities, bearing public duties. They can have privileged access to the state. They can be insulated from state organs like the judiciary. Yet, they are rarely assigned formal constitutional powers and duties, and they are often overlooked altogether. The Chinese doctrine of party leadership can illuminate the way all private bodies exercise public power, especially in states where party leadership is not explicitly constitutional.

About The Speaker

Ewan Smith is the Shaw Foundation Research Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford. He is an associate at the Oxford University China Centre and the Programme for the Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government. Ewan read law at Brasenose College and the University of Paris (B.A) and at Harvard Law School (LL.M.). He has previously worked at Trinity and Hertford Colleges, and at Peking, Tsinghua and Renmin Universities in China. He is admitted to practice in New York, where he worked for Debevoise and Plimpton LLP. Before returning to Oxford, he spent ten years at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.