PUBLIC JURIST

This issue of Public Jurist is a consortium of essays investigating different dimensions of China’s growth, including its economic advancement, engagement with the international regulatory and legal order, and the potential impediments such as authoritarian pathologies and xenophobia. In addition to these wonderful perspectives are interviews with Professor Wenfang Tang, Head of Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and author of award-winning Populist Authoritarianism and Dr. Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and author of the Wall Street Journal 2018 best book on politics The New Authoritarianism.

This issue addresses key questions arising from constitutional democracy backsliding in Asia by assembling a symposium of remarkable articles from renowned scholars including Professor John O. Haley, Professor Aurel Croissant, Ms. Anna Hengge, Dr. Ming-Sung Kuo and Dr. Anna Dziedzic. The contributors delve into different dimensions of constitutional backsliding in Asia, such as the problem of levelling of constitutional space, the empirical foundations of non-violent protests and the Chinese legacies in Northeast Asian jurisdictions. The intra-regional diversity is notable in this issue in which examples surveyed in the four articles are drawn from almost all corners of Asia.

This issue features an interview with Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury NPJ, a Non-Permanent Judge at the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the former President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, in which he shared his insights towards the rule of law, the proper understanding of judicial activism and his views towards One Country Two Systems etc. This issue also includes two articles by Professor Richard Cullen, Visiting Professor of the Faculty of Law on proportionality and China-Australia-US relations, as well as a roundtable report on democratic recession.

This issue revisits the South Korean resistance against authoritarian rule and struggle towards democracy from multidisciplinary perspectives, including political science, sociology, social movement studies and history. It tries to highlight the continual relevance of the South Korean democratisation process in our contemporary world and provides a more nuanced understanding to our readers regarding key movements such as the Gwangju uprising.

This issue explores the complexities and uncertainties surrounding Brexit by dissecting the constitutional tension between important players within the United Kingdom constitutional monarchy such as the executive, legislature and the Supreme Court which has revealed itself over the course of last 3 and a half years and investigating the future of European Integration by looking at the future roles of the European Union and its institutions as well as their relationship vis-à-vis member states.

This issue features an interview with Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury NPJ, a Non-Permanent Judge at the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the former President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, in which he shared his insights towards the rule of law, the proper understanding of judicial activism and his views towards One Country Two Systems etc. This issue also includes two articles by Professor Richard Cullen, Visiting Professor of the Faculty of Law on proportionality and China-Australia-US relations, as well as a roundtable report on democratic recession.

The November 2018 Issue of Public Jurist features lively debates from first-year GLaws students on the law and politics of US-China Trade War, comparative analysis of coup d’états, and an interview with Ms Vera Kobalia, the former Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. The magazine was graced with a foreword from renowned political scientist, HKU’s Pro- Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Holliday.

The inaugural issue of the Public Jurist was published in July 2018, few months after the establishment of the Government and Laws Committee. It features an in-depth analysis of the law and politics of US-DPRK summit in Singapore, April 2018, an article on US-China relationship titled The New Washington Consensus authored by Professor Richard Cullen and an overview of GLC's inaugural initiatives and future plans.