Chinese Developmentalism and the Global Order

Thursday, September 24, 2026

2:30-3:30 pm (Eastern)

Vanderbilt Hall 201 and on Zoom

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About the event:

Contemporary trends suggest a sea change in the international order as the US reverses its longstanding commitments to free trade and liberal democracy. Based on a forthcoming book titled Chinese Developmentalism in the Global Legal and Economic Order, co-edited with Jacques deLisle and Jaclyn Neo, our speaker, Matthew Erie, says that China promotes a novel ordering they call “Chinese developmentalism,” which favors state-led economic growth, industrial policy, technological innovation, and illiberal governance.  Chinese developmentalism is complex and still evolving, but Erie says while its aspirations are far-reaching, the magnitude and direction of its impact are far from inevitable.

About the speaker:

Matthew S. Erie is an associate professor of law at American University Washington College of Law and an associate member of the Oxford Law Faculty. Before AUWCL, he taught at Oxford for ten years where he was an associate professor with tenure and principal investigator of the six-year China, Law and Development project. An interdisciplinary and comparative scholar, his research examines non-liberal law and how it shapes domestic, international, and transnational legal systems. He is the author of China and Islam: The Prophet, the Party, and Law (Cambridge University Press, 2016), and editor or co-editor of A Casebook on Chinese Outbound Investment: Law, Policy, and Business (CUP 2025), Inter-Asian Law (CUP 2025), and Chinese Developmentalism in the Global Legal and Economic Order (CUP, forthcoming). His work has appeared in leading law and social science journals. He holds degrees from Cornell University (Ph.D., anthropology), University of Pennsylvania (J.D.), Tsinghua University Law School (LL.M.), and Dartmouth College (B.A).