Resolving Disputes during times of Crisis: China’s Experience

The recent global health pandemic raises new questions as to how large scale public sector disputes might be resolved.  A chapter, published in a special issue of the Journal of Comparative Law examines the experience of China in addressing mass claims including those arising in relation to the SARS incident. The cases illustrate the continued preference for settling wide-scale claims outside of court. This settlement tendency alongside continued attention to strengthening the rule of law in China, calls for continuing examination of how such processes might simultaneously advance due process, transparency and avenues for appeal. Through examining China’s mediated response to wide-scale disaster events, the chapter provides a brief overview of China’s recent approaches to post-disaster governance, an evaluation of the country’s achievements to date, an analysis of challenges ahead and some suggestions for improving the existing approaches and mechanisms drawing on existing lessons learned.

The full paper can be found here.