Inaugural Annual Oxford Programme in Asian Laws Lecture: Territorial Governance in Southeast Asia: Pluralism and Innovation in Public Law

This lecture is based on the findings in Andrew Harding's forthcoming book, "Territorial governance in Southeast Asia". Over the last few decades, a silent revolution has taken place across Southeast Asia in the form of disaggregation of highly centralised 'developmental' states, transferring powers to subnational levels of government. In the process of decentralisation these states have been compelled to resort to pluralism to deal with the extreme ethnic and religious diversity that endangers both peace and the integrity of the nation. As Ran Hirschl argues in his masterwork "City, State: Constitutionalism and the Megacity" (OUP, 2020), innovation in territorial governance is likely to come from the global South. In this lecture Andrew Harding explains the innovations, including notably special regional autonomy, that have enabled this revolution in territorial governance to take place, and the lessons to be drawn from this experience.

Professor Andrew Harding is currently Visiting Research Professor at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore and Professor of Law, University of Reading Malaysia. He is a former Director of that Centre, former Director of the Asian Law Institute, former Head of the Law School at SOAS, University of London, and former Chair in Asia-Pacific Legal Relations at the University of Victoria, BC Canada. His scholarly contribution has related to comparative constitutional law with reference to Southeast Asia, and Asian legal systems. He is the author or editor of 25 books, and is a co-founding-editor of the Hart Publishing book series 'Constitutional Systems of the World'. He is an alumnus of Pembroke College, Oxford.

The lecture will be held in the White & Case Room, Oxford Faculty of Law, and will be followed by a drinks reception.

If you would like to attend this Annual Lecture please complete the registration form at the link below.

Registration will close on 3 July 2024 and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Register