Adjudication in the Rhetorical Context of Chinese Ideological Speech

Abstract Does recent Chinese ideological speech on the rule of law add anything new to Chinese legal reasoning and adjudication? This article argues that the significance of Chinese ideological speech is easier to appreciate when it is studied as rhetoric rather than as legal theoretical arguments or as policy concepts. Recent texts on the Chinese Communist Party’s rule of law ideology are mostly based on preexisting concepts of Chinese legal thought. From a conceptual perspective, these efforts may appear to have little bearing on adjudication in Chinese people’s courts. From the rhetorical perspective, however, the influence of Party ideology on Chinese legal reasoning and adjudication can be seen to emerge from the overall rhetorical context of the Chinese party-state. The result of this influence may be best theorized as an implicit ideological sensibility, which supports the changing priorities of the Chinese party-state. Rhetorical theory also facilitates comparisons between Chinese ideological advocacy efforts and the promotion of policy concepts in other organizations. This article finds a point of comparison for Chinese ideological advocacy in the promotion of the Human Rights-based Approaches to Development within the United Nations system. This comparison casts light on the motivations and challenges of ideological advocacy in organizational settings.