Xiangyi (Tami) Ren
Xiangyi (Tami) Ren B.A., Political Science and International Studies, UW-Madison
MSc., Politics of China, SOAS University of London
Email Interests:

Socio-legal Studies, Environmental Sociology, Sociology of Knowledge, China Studies

Doctoral Candidate (2018)

Dissertation Title: Divergent Organizational Changes in Legal Institutions: The Development of Specialized Trial Organizations in China

Committee: Andrew Abbott (chair), Marco Garrido, Tom Ginsburg (Law School), Side Liu (Faculty of law, the University of Hong Kong)

My dissertation examines the divergent organizational development of specialized trial organizations (STOs), including specialized tribunals and specialized courts, in the fields of environmental law and intellectual property law (IP) in China. Specifically, the study explores how STOs in two legal fields operate to address the interaction between legal and scientific knowledge related to environmental protection and IP rights. It investigates how these practices, as a form of professional legal knowledge production, influence the emergence and changes of STO organizational form within these two legal fields. The findings from these inquires shed light on China’s legal reforms aimed at enhancing judicial specialization since 2014 under Xi Jinping Administration. Additionally, they offer new insights into the dynamics of judicial decision-making that shape changes of organizational forms within legal institutions over time.

Recent Research / Recent Publications

Selected Publications

Xiangyi Ren and Lili Liu. 2020. “Building Consensus: Support Structure and the Frames of Environmental Legal Mobilization in China.” Journal of Contemporary China 29(121):109-124.

Shumeng Han and Xiangyi Ren. 2024. "Disobedient Children, Hybrid Filiality: Negotiating Parent–Child Relations in Local Legal System in Republican China, 1911–1949." Law and History Review pp. 1-24. doi:10.1017/S0738248023000512.