Debate over the remarkable recent path of
development in Asian societies has tended to emphasize the importance of
"Rule of Law," in contrast to traditional, and other culturally
specific mechanisms of social and economic organization. It is far from
crystal clear what is connoted by the term "Rule of Law" in
various Asian societies, much less in European, North American, or
formerly socialist contexts. Nonetheless, it seems safe to suggest that
Rule of Law· is linked in the minds of many observers to the particular
needs of global economic markets. Local practices that are organized
around traditional social links are criticized as arbitrary, irrational,
and corrupt. Some observers complain that such emphasis on Rule of Law
denies or denigrates the role of law in traditional society, overstates
the role of law in modern western social organization, and understates the
role of culturally embedded practices in all modern social and economic
organizations.
Three overall aspects of this theme will be
developed in the sessions of the Symposium:
January 19, 2001
9:00 a.m. The Implications of "Rule of
Law" in Asia. Does the rule of law inevitably implicate the adoption
of global values and norms, or is it reconcilable with persistent,
culturally embedded organizations?
Competing Conceptions of Rule of Law in China
Randall Peerenboom, UCLA Law School
The Paradox of Free Market Democracy
Amy Chua, Duke University Law School
Property Rights and Indigenous Tradition Among Early
20th Century Japanese Firms
J. Mark Ramseyer, Harvard Law School
Discussant: Professor Margaret Y. K. Woo,
Northeastern University School of Law
1:00 p.m. The recognition of the legal rights of
persons previously excluded by traditional societies: The place of
outsiders, foreigners, and minorities group members in Asian labor
markets. Nationhood and citizenship in a more mobile global situation
Foreign Workers and Their Legal Status in
Taiwan
Lucie Cheng, Sociology, UCLA
"Us" and "Other" in Korean
Law
Chulwoo Lee of SKK University, Korea
Internal Migrants and the Challenge of the
"Floating Population" in the PRC.
Dorothy Solinger, University of California, Irvine
Discussant: Kyeyoung Park, Anthropology, UCLA
January 20, 2001
9:00 a.m. Role of the Legal Profession in the
Emergence of Civil Society and Rule of Law in Asia
Asian Legal Professions and Their Links to
Culturally Embedded Institutions
William Alford, Harvard Law
School
Stasis and Change in Japanese Legal Education
Kahei Rokomoto, University of the Air Faculty (Emeritus Professor,
University of Tokyo Law Faculty)
Rule of Law in Post-Maoist China: Chinese Courts and
Litigation
Stanley Lubman, Stanford Law School
Discussant: Harry Scheiber, UC Berkeley,
School of Law
The Symposium will mark the 75th Anniversary of the
birth of the late Professor Hiroshi Wagatsuma, who served as a Professor
of Anthropology at UCLA from 1974 to 1983. The Memorial Fund, created by
his friends and colleagues, promotes his memory by supporting student and
faculty research grants at UCLA, and by organizing scholarly symposia on
themes close to Hiroshi Wagatsuma's deep interests in culture, social
identity, and law.
Sponsored by the Hiroshi Wagatsuma Memorial Fund The
UCLA Asia-Pacific Institute The UCLA School of Law
Since space for this program will be limited please
call Leigh Iwanaga at (310) 825-0971 or e-mail events@law.ucla.edu
for reservations.
UCLA Center for East Asian Studies 