In the Absence of the Rule of Law: Everyday Lawyering, Dignity and Resistance in Myanmar’s ‘Disciplined Democracy’

Batesmith, AA ORCID: 0000-0002-0997-3154 and Stevens, Jake (2019) In the Absence of the Rule of Law: Everyday Lawyering, Dignity and Resistance in Myanmar’s ‘Disciplined Democracy’. Social and Legal Studies: an international journal, 28 (5). pp. 573-599.

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Abstract

This article explores how ‘everyday’ lawyers undertaking routine criminal defence cases navigate an authoritarian legal system. Based on original fieldwork in the ‘disciplined democracy’ of Myanmar, the article examines how hegemonic state power and a functional absence of the rule of law has created a culture of passivity amongst ordinary practitioners. ‘Everyday’ lawyers are nevertheless able to uphold their clients’ dignity by practical and material support for the individual human experience – and in so doing, subtly resist, evade or disrupt state power. The article draws upon the literature on the sociology of lawyering and resistance, arguing for a multi-layered understanding of dignity going beyond lawyers’ contributions to their clients’ legal autonomy. Focusing on dignity provides an alternative perspective to the otherwise often all-consuming rule of law discourse. In authoritarian legal systems, enhancing their clients’ dignity beyond legal autonomy may be the only meaningful contribution that ‘everyday’ lawyers can make.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	dignity, everyday resistance, hybrid and authoritarian regimes, law and development, lawyers and lawyering, Myanmar/Burma, rule of law, sociology of lawyering
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	28 Sep 2018 08:46
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 01:15
DOI:	10.1177/0964663918807739
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3026853