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- Lectures
- Institute of European and American Studies
- Location
1st Floor Conference Room, Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica
- Speaker Name
Prof Weitseng Chen (National University of Singapore Faculty of Law)
- State
Definitive
- Url
2025-12-09 14:00 - 16:00
Abstract:
When Rule of Law Promotion Builds Authoritarianism: Lessons from Taiwan, South Korea, and China
For decades, Taiwan and South Korea have been celebrated as proof that strengthening the rule of law can move authoritarian regimes toward democracy. This talk challenges that view by revisiting the legal histories of Taiwan, South Korea, and China. It identifies two paradigms of rule-of-law promotion: the Cold War “state-first” approach and the post–Cold War “democracy-first” approach. Different in style but similar in outcome, both shared the same flaw: foreign legal aid often reinforced authoritarianism. Taiwan and South Korea’s democratization was not evidence of legal modernization theory, but an outlier. Law is a neutral infrastructural power, and future rule-of-law promotion must be recalibrated to prevent authoritarian capture.
