Leiden 2017: Call for Papers

Call for Papers

The 12th annual conference of the European China Law Studies Association (ECLS) will take place in Leiden on 24–25 August 2017, with the support of its Faculty of Law and the Leiden Institute for Area Studies.

Since its founding in 2006, ECLS has become a leading international venue for scholars and practitioners who are engaged in the study of Chinese law, including from comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives. The annual general conference provides a unique forum for the exchange of information and ideas, as well as a platform for the development of research collaboration.

We are particularly pleased to announce the foundation of the ECLS Young Scholars community, to support PhD candidates and Master students to play an active part in research on Chinese law and develop innovative, interdisciplinary projects. As part of the conference, the Young Scholars will organise a workshop targeted specifically at the needs and interests of Master and PhD students. Furthermore, an award will be issued to the best Young Scholar paper at the conference.

Keynote topics

While the conference is open to all submissions pertaining to law in China, submissions are particularly invited with regard to the following topics:

Law and Development in China and Its Region. This session will address the question how law contributed to development in China, and what the regional impact of Chinese domestic processes is. Submissions can be comparative in nature, or explore whether and how Chinese approaches have been adopted elsewhere in Asia. This session is organized in cooperation with the Asian Journal of Law and Society. Papers accepted for this panel will be published in a special edition of the journal.

PLEASE NOTE: if you wish to be considered for this panel, in addition to submission through the conference website you must send the abstract before 15 March to both editors@asianjls.org and j.m.otto@law.leidenuniv.nl.

Post 4th-Plenum Reforms and State-Citizen Relationships. This session will examine how reforms announced in the 4th Plenum have been implemented, and what their impact has been on questions such as access to justice and legal protection for Chinese citizens. It is the intention that these papers will be published as an edited volume, with the support of Leiden University’s research programme in Asian Modernities and Traditions.

Guidelines for submission

Authors are invited to submit paper abstracts and panel proposals in English by 30 April 2017. Abstracts and proposals should be limited to 300 words for a paper and 1,000 words for a panel. They should include: 1) the title of the paper or panel; 2) name, institution and email address of the author(s); 3) up to five keywords. Submissions will be peer-reviewed anonymously by a committee of senior ECLS members. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be given by 30 May 2017. Full papers should not exceed 6,000 words, and be produced by 15 August 2017.

Submissions should be entered via the submission page (https://ecls2017leiden.wordpress.com/submissions/), all other enquiries are to be addressed to Dr Rogier Creemers (r.j.e.h.creemers@law.leidenuniv.nl).

Conference participants will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. Relevant practical information will be provided in due course.