Yishuang Li

Synopsis of Research in Shanghai (January 10 - May 20)：

Existing research suggests that the rule of law is pivotal to economic development. Most importantly, an independent judicial system that constrains the encroachment of governments over private properties and upholds a leveling field for all firms is crucial for attracting investment. While judicial independence is considered as an important characteristic for democratic regimes, the path towards better rule of law in autocracies is much harder without a fully independent judiciary. Some authoritarian reformers in the former Soviet Union, Egypt, and China tried to strengthen the autonomy of their courts as they implemented economic reforms and attracted foreign investment. However, these authoritarian governments rarely grant full independence to the judiciary. As a result, courts under autocracy often still have to cater to at least the core interests of the executive branch. Interestingly, judicial reforms in autocracies can take very different approaches. To name a few, Gorbachev tried to improve the autonomy of judges through decentralizing its judicial system in the former Soviet Union, whereas Sadat managed to delegate trials to independent-minded legal professionals in Egypt. Moreover, the purpose of improving judicial independence and impartiality in trials can also be diverse. Attracting investment and boosting economic growth may be the most pervasive ones, but other goals also exist such as reducing local capture and corruption in China, and preventing future retaliations from the opposition in Mexico. This leaves us with the two fundamental questions Yishuang Li’s dissertation attempts to answer: Why do authoritarian regimes need judicial independence and impartiality? How do authoritarian governments achieve them? Her dissertation will primarily unfold through a careful examination of recent judicial reforms in China, in particular the centralization of fiscal control over local courts, and the reform of the judicial committee and introduction of life-time responsibility system for judges. Given this empirical setting, NYU Shanghai will be an ideal site for her to collect relevant data and meet professionals in China’s legal studies for her project. In particular, NYU Shanghai has a physical terminal to the Wind Financial Database, which is crucial for the construction of Li’s litigation dataset of listed firms. Moreover, one of her dissertation chapters will specifically focus on the protection of intellectual property rights, and China recently established one Intellectual Property Court in Shanghai.