Drawing on empirical data collected from petitioners in Chinese courts, this article analyzes how the regime's political concern for social stability transforms petitioners' disputes and shapes the evolution of their legal consciousness. Compared with first-time petitioners who often address...

The way in which citizens in developing countries conceptualize legality is a critical but understudied question for legal consciousness and legal mobilization studies. Drawing on participatory observations and extensive interviews from western China, this article explores the subjective...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to distinguish different types of guanxi from a historic perspective and to investigate the effects of different types of guanxi on trust between alliance partners through an empirical study. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first reviews the...

Based on intensive interviews and in-depth investigations in the Pearl River Delta, this Article explores the extent to which Chinese courts of the region are effective and efficient in enforcing commercial judgments, a matter critically important to the functioning of the judicial system and...

Since the reform era began in China in 1978, there have been significant changes in the nature and incidence of disputes, conflicts and social disturbances, and the mechanisms for addressing them. As with economic and governance reforms, the government has adopted a pragmatic, problem-solving...

Legal commensuration is a complex mechanism of valuation. Its complexity has much to do with the relational nature of the monetary exchange involved between parties in the litigational context. This article offers a framework to understand its process and outcome by focusing on the institutional...

Drawing on fieldwork investigations of shoe manufacturers in Southeast China, this article provides empirical evidence for understanding their taxpaying practices. We find that since the legitimacy of tax law is largely absent amongst business taxpayers, instrumental considerations dominate...