ABSTRACT
Discussions of democracy in China now tend to focus on areas removed from institutionalized, legally regulated, and law-related democracy. One reading of the official assessment of the relationship between law and democracy in China is that it goes beyond this thin version that sees relatively developed law, legality, or rule by law as something that can be achieved without much democracy. More broadly, some well-known analyses argue that China in recent years has turned against law or has reached the limits of its model of developmental autocracy, which portends problems for law as well as development. Among China's public intellectuals, the belief that legality can be achieved and sustained in the absence of democracy, or that it is sensible to focus on the rule of law while placing less emphasis on democratization, is far from universal. In social and political practice as well, there are signs consistent with the perception of linkages between greater legality and greater democracy in China.
