USALI is now accepting applications for its 2022-2023 Visiting Scholars Program. We welcome applicants across legal disciplines. We are expanding our work in international law and encourage applicants in this field.
Event Recording: Reforming the Global Public Health Regime: Asian Perspectives
Event Recording: China and Authoritarian International Law
International law has mainly been a product of liberal democracies since World War II. But democracy and liberalism are under assault from populists, economic nationalists, and autocrats. Tom Ginsburg, a professor of law and political science, asks what international law might look like if the global trend toward authoritarianism continues. He argues that today’s authoritarian regimes, including China, are using international law to promote their own survival, and may end up reshaping it in important ways.
Event Recording: Celebrating Jerry Cohen & Six Decades of U.S.-Asia Cooperation in Law
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute celebrated its founder and director emeritus, Professor Jerome A. Cohen, and his unique contributions to U.S.-Asia mutual understanding and cooperation in the field of law. 2020 marked Jerry Cohen’s 90th birthday and his official retirement from teaching at NYU – although not his retirement from writing, speaking, advocacy, and devotion to the U.S.-Asia Law Institute.
Event Recording: M. Butterfly 2.0: The Evolution of EU-China Relations
In this webinar recorded on May 13, 2020, Theresa Fallon, director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies, and Peter Dutton, professor at the U.S. Naval War College and USALI senior fellow, discussed how China’s growing economic leverage in Europe and recent “wolf warrior” diplomacy are pushing the European Union and its member states to take geopolitics more seriously and choose a side in the U.S.-China rivalry.
Event Recording: Criminalizing China
Event Recap: Exonerated! From Central Park to East Asia
Wrongful convictions occur in every jurisdiction, and legal professionals around the world should collaborate to redress and prevent them. That was the message of ‘Exonerated! From Central Park to East Asia,’ a speaker event held at the law school on Tuesday, October 8, 2019 by the U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) and co-sponsored by the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law and Asia Law Society.
USALI Visiting Scholars Program: Now Accepting Applications
Harvard Book Event: Taiwan and International Human Rights
From Professor Jerome A. Cohen’s Blog:
I'm delighted to announce the publication of a new edited volume, Taiwan and International Human Rights: A Story of Transformation. I admire the hard work of my co-editors and dear friends, Professors Bill Alford of Harvard and LO Chang-fa, former Taiwan Constitutional Court Justice and National Taiwan University Law Dean, that made this book possible.
Student Scholars Program Accepting Applications for 2019 - 2020 Year
The U.S-Asia Law Institute (USALI) is currently accepting applications for its annual Student Scholars program, an exciting year-long opportunity to produce independent research related to the Institute’s ongoing projects.
The selection process is competitive, and successful student scholars will meet regularly as a group to discuss important legal issues facing the region, meet with the Institute’s world-renowned visiting scholars and receive guidance and support from USALI staff. Students are expected to commit time to the Institute each week and contribute to the work of the Institute.
Workshop in China: International Approaches to Sexual Harassment Law
From June 1 – 2, 2019 the U.S.-Asia Law Institute held “International Approaches to Sexual Harassment Law” in partnership with Sichuan University Law School, Chengdu, China. The workshop was structured to explore comparative means of addressing anti-discrimination cases, litigation, mechanisms and standards throughout the world for the purpose of strengthening understanding of international approaches.
Affiliated Scholar Aaron Halegua speaks at US Embassy in Beijing
Webcast recap: “Jack Downey, Sino-American Relations and International Law — Lessons for Today"
By Jerome A. Cohen
I gave a talk entitled “Jack Downey, Sino-American Relations and International Law — Lessons for Today" at the Woodrow Wilson Center today in Washington, DC. It was in memory of the late distinguished historian of Sino-American relations Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and reviewed the case of my Yale college classmate Jack Downey, a CIA agent whose plane was shot down in China November 29, 1952.
USALI’s May 2018 Trip to China: Preventing Wrongful Convictions – Police Interrogations and False Confessions
In May 2018, the U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) traveled to China as part of its continuing program to work with partners in Asia to prevent and redress wrongful convictions. Working with Chinese partner institutions, we convened several events in Beijing and Shanghai to share the research and expertise of Western scholars on one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions in the U.S. and around the world: false confessions.
Book Launch in China
On May 29, 2018 the U.S.-Asia Law Institute held a book launch for two the release of their two newest publications, “Questioning Police Interrogation Methods” and “The Evolution of Pretrial Detention Law.” These two books are the result of many year’s work, and feature a variety of articles from leading legal scholars and practitioners about these two important and evolving fields of pretrial detention and interrogation methods.
The books feature an English language and Chinese language versions, with articles translated into Chinese by USALI staff and scholars. The Evolution of Pretrial Detention Law introduces the history and practice of U.S. and Chinese pretrial release history. Meanwhile, Questioning Police Interrogation Methods offers a perspective and methods to alleviate police-induced false confessions.
The book launch was held at Beijing Normal University, where friends of USALI, the publisher China Law Press, and contributors to the book gathered to discuss the contents and the evolution of the work itself. USALI Executive Director Ira Belkin states, “I am confident that this book’s groundbreaking research, comprehensive commentary and imaginative proposals will stimulate further law enforcement progress in China and the United States.”
2017 Summary of Activities
Professor Frank Upham and Shitong Qiao of USALI Discuss Property Rights in China
On Thursday, October 31, 2013 Professor Cohen sat down with Professor Frank Upham, Wilf Family Professor of Property Law and USALI co-director at the NYU School of Law, and Mr. Shitong Qiao, USALI Research Scholar and J.S.D. Candidate at Yale Law School, to discuss their views on contemporary Chinese property rights topics and property law in general.
During the lunch, Professor Upham described how he became interested in Chinese property rights. The turn toward China marks his latest focus of inquiry in a career-long interest in law and society, particularly the extent to which global practice can help us rethink existing theory on the relationship between property rights and the law. Having studied many diverse regions, including Japan, Cambodia and China, he is now working on a book that investigates the evolution of property law across many regions, beginning with the enclosure movement in England in the sixteenth century.
Mr. Shitong Qiao, who is now in his fourth year in Yale’s J.S.D. program, introduced his fieldwork in Shenzhen, the birthplace of China's market economy and urban land use reform. Mr. Qiao advised the Shenzhen municipal government on land reform and urbanization during his one-year fieldwork there. His research on small properties in Shenzhen has been accepted by the Canadian Journal of Law and Society and as a book chapter to be published by Cambridge University Press. He also detailed his approach toward studying Chinese property rights, which combines law and economic theories with on-the-ground observation and participation.
In addition, Professor Upham and Mr. Qiao discussed their ongoing collaboration, a project that examines the evolution of land rights in a rapidly changing world. In answering questions from the audience, both speakers proposed an integrated and dynamic approach to understanding property rights in China, which emphasizes the crucial roles of community-building and the establishment of political power for all stakeholders involved in the process of owning and transferring land.