Sinicized Marxist Constitutionalism: Its Emergence, Contents, and Implications

Abstract

After three decades of economic reform and opening up to the outside world, China’s ideological realm has been significantly transformed and complicated. This is well manifested in the constitutional discourses concerning the future of China. One notable example is the wide acceptance of the liberal constitutional paradigm among Chinese intellectuals. This liberal perspective historically viewed the constitution of a Marxist-Leninist state as a ‘sham,’ or a ‘useless’ document to rein in the government. Consequently scholars influenced by this paradigm look contemptuously at the current Chinese constitution, which for them needs to be abolished, significantly revised, or judicialized. However, in recent years, in light of the significant progress of the constitutional framework of China, including its values and practices regarding the rule of law and human rights, this dominant liberal perspective has been challenged. For example, Stephanie Balme and Michael Dowdle’s (2009) edited book Building Constitutionalism in China is devoted to exploring the empirical impacts of the emerging constitutionalism on many aspects of Chinese society. Several other scholars, such as Larry C. Backer, Jiang Shigong, Chu Jianguo, and Randall Peerenboom, etc, have also sought to establish a party-state model to grant legitimacy to China’s current constitutional development in the international community. In light of these developments, we can see that a new paradigm of Sinicized Marxist Constitutionalism (SMC) is emerging. Why is the SMC emerging? What are its contents and implications? These are the questions this paper seeks to explore. As we will see, the emergence of the SMC has deep historical roots; the paradigm is quite rich in content and carries some profound implications.