Political but incontestable: A review of 'political constitutionalism' in China

Although all constitutional issues are political in essence, 'political constitutionalism' as a school is specifically critical of court-centred understandings. Such a school of political constitutionalism has emerged in Chinese constitutional debates since 2008. Its rapid development has both enriched and challenged Chinese constitutional studies, but it has also left certain impacts on the political reality of China. Is this school comparable to the Western political constitutionalism tradition and how is 'the political' defined? By discerning three political registers from the school's main arguments as the 'constitutional moment', 'polity' and 'governance', this article aims to critically examine the aims and functions of political constitutionalism in China and to argue that while constitutional reflexivity requires contestability, the political registers of this wide-ranging school in fact deny it.