Mediation in contemporary Chinese civil justice: a proceduralist diachronic perspective

cross, even more than four decades after the onset of Reform and Opening. What will be the result of the Party’s conservative turn on human rights and the rule of law? As Fu Hualing points out, some activists may be radicalized as they witness intensifying state repression. For those lawyers, intensifying repression must be met with a more overtly political response, including increasingly public and overt efforts to call attention to rights abuses, and to link those abuses to the very structure and nature of the Party-state itself. Eva Pils makes a similar point in her chapter on human rights and the political system, arguing that many activists are shedding their incrementalist approach in favour of a more overtly political stance, one that does not shy away from direct criticism of the Party-state. For other activists, the response to increasing authoritarianism may not be radicalization, but rather alienation and disengagement. The past several years have seen a growing number of activists from China – and now from Hong Kong – choosing exit over voice, and seeking to build new lives in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. The Party may well see such alienation as in line with its own interests. But it is also possible that the Party’s increasing rigidity, and the cynicism it feeds, could in fact erode public support for the regime, thus undermining rather than enhancing its long-term prospects for survival. How does this story end? No doubt, the struggle for human rights in China is a long-term one, and activists have largely accommodated themselves to the reality that they must take the long view. There are few if any signals that the regime will shift its hard-line approach anytime soon, and few potential external shocks – save for a severe economic crisis, or a messy conflict over Taiwan or the South China Sea – that could force the Party’s hand. Still, it would be a mistake to underestimate the ability of Chinese activists and lawyers to not only survive these latest challenges but perhaps even to come up with adaptive responses to state repression. It is possible that, in the years to come, many activists will develop innovative approaches that allow them to continue to press the Communist Party leadership to better respect the rights of its own citizens. After all, as this volume ably documents, Chinese rights activists have already accomplished more than many outside observers would have thought possible. As the next chapter in the struggle for human rights in China is written, these same activists, perhaps joined by growing numbers of a disillusioned public, will play a leading role.