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Actually, law is always to some degree an instrument for controlling the citizens. However, there are obviously degrees of difference and of kind. When I was attached to the US Embassy in Seoul years ago, one American lawyer pointed it out this way: "In the US, the major function of law is to protect citizens from each other and from the government. In the ROK, the main function of law is to allow the government to control the citizens, and also to protect the citizens from each other."
But it's not just Korea, obviously; in the US context, "You can't fight City Hall." The US is now seeing massive legal shifts toward favoring corporations (after all, they now own the lawmakers) and restricting voting rights for the non-elites. (Keep in mind that the US Constitution does not include the right to vote.) Plutocracy can actually control the people more subtly and effectively than a single party state can; plutocrats can buy votes and propaganda, actually convincing the non-elites to vote against their own best interests. It will be interesting to see if the CCP moves in this direction as wealth accumulates in a tiny segment of the population.
Nov 05, 2014 12:07 PM
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At most, the PRC uses rule by law, not rule of law. Law under CCP authoritarian rule is an intentionally vague instrument that is wielded to prop up monopolistic control of the government, military, courts, media, and police by the Communist Party and for the sake of the Communist Party.
Nov 08, 2014 08:58 PM
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