Francis Cao (Goethe University Frankfurt – Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS); Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) – China Institute for Socio-Legal Studies; Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen Nuremberg; University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Strategic Paradox Management: China’s Party-State Capitalism and the Instrumentalization of Global Constitutionalism on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article examines how China’s Party-State capitalism strategically manages, rather than resolves, deep constitutional contradictions by instrumentalizing global constitutional norms. Adapting Teubner’s societal constitutionalism to account for strategic agency, it explores how the Chinese Party-State selectively imports and deploys foreign legal concepts to balance market dynamics with centralized Party control. Through historical analysis and case studies of financial and digital governance, the article demonstrates that ‘paradox concealment’ is a core feature of China’s model, enabling it to navigate the tensions between legal institutions and Party supremacy. Comparative perspectives from Singapore and Vietnam highlight paradox management as a hallmark of authoritarian capitalism, with China’s approach being uniquely sophisticated. The study concludes that this model challenges universalist assumptions in global constitutionalism, fueling international legal fragmentation, but also faces inherent legitimacy and economic risks that paradox concealment cannot fully resolve.