This thesis focuses on the research question that whether western-inspired legal reform can make substantive changes in China, given the pre-existing social control system. By using community sanctions and measures (CSM) as an example, it explores the impact of legal reform on individual practitioners, various organisations, and the general model of governance in China. To gain insight into these dynamics, empirical study was conducted in two major sites of China. In-depth interviews, observation and scenario tests were used to collect qualitative data. This data was interpreted with reference to quantitative data obtained from secondary resources. Based on the analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data, this thesis argues that social control in China should not be understood solely in terms of one-Party politics or traditional Confucianism. Instead, the model of governance in contemporary China is underpinned by the broader state-citizen relationship, the institutional design of state apparatus (known as the danwei system), and the populist culture associated with them. This model of governance has led to a highly problematic central-local relationship and an unreasonable state-agent relationship. Both consequences are major obstacles in legal reform, and contributing factors to China's instability. In conclusion, this thesis suggests that the underperformance of legal reform and the social unrest in contemporary China are intertwined problems. They can only be addressed together by a package solution. This solution should provide a bottom-up route in legal reform, so that local governments, as the primary driving forces of reform, can mobilise important social changes. It should also contain a reshaped central-local relationship that can give local governments and lower courts a stronger claim on their legitimacy. The reconstruction of legitimacy and reshaping of local governance should be the focus of policy makers and future studies on Chinese legal reform.

À l’heure ou la Chine s’affirme comme un leader de l‘économie mondiale, participant a la mondialisation économique et intégrant l’OMC, il semble essentiel de s’intéresser a l’impact d’un tel bouleversement sur son ordonnancement juridique, c’est-a -dire analyser la manière dt le droit chinois s’adapte a la modernité . Ce processus de transformation apparaîtcomme le « fruit d’une alchimie particulière » entre la tradition juridiplurimillenaire chinoise et les sources d’inspiration exogènes que constituent les droits étrangers. Pour appréhender au mieux cette évolution cruciale, il importe de porter le regard sur l’origine et la formation de la tradition juridique chinoise, a travers ses deux composantes fondamentalesque sont le confucianisme et le legisme. Cela doit permettre de mieux mesurer l’ampleur des transferts d’éléments issus de droits étrangers, notamment de la tradition continentale, a partir du de but du XX e siècle, et de constater qu’actuellement, malgré tous les facteurs historiques et politiques entravant cette modernisation, le droit chinois poursuit sa longue marche vers l’instauration d’un État de droit / As China asserts itself as a global economic leader – taking part in the economic globalisation and integrating the WTO – it is imperative to look at impact that such an upheaval has on its judicial scheduling, i.e. analyse the way Chinese law adapts to modernity. This process of transformation appears to be the « result of a particular chemistry » between an ancient Chinese legal tradition on the one hand, and the exogenous sources of inspiration of foreign laws on the other hand. To fully grasp this critical evolution, it is important to focus on the origin and on the creation of the Chinese legal tradition, by taking into account two of its fundamental components: Confucianism and Legalism. This should allow to better measure the scope of elements which has been transferred from foreign law - especially from Western continental tradition - from the beginning of twentieth century on, and to ascertain that at present, in spite of all the historical and political factors hindering this modernization, Chinese law continues towards its establishment of a state grounded on the rule of law.

La présente thèse s’intéresse à la diversité des pouvoirs locaux en Chine qui se trouvent pris entre une tendance centralisatrice traditionnelle et une évolution autonomiste innovatrice. Les autorités centrales exercent en Chine encore l’essentiel des pouvoirs de l’État et se superposent de manière puissante aux pouvoirs locaux. Toutefois, même si c’est sous le contrôle des autorités centrales, les pouvoirs locaux ont acquis désormais des compétences dans de multiples domaines. Ils représentent ainsi de nos jours de réels centres du pouvoir que le personnel politique convoite lors des compétitions politiques. Mais contrairement à la France, les pouvoirs locaux se présentent en Chine dans un contexte de régime communiste. Cependant, comme en France, les politiques de décentralisation et de déconcentration constituent un défi pour le développement politique de l’État. À cet égard, l’échelon local a changé de statut : il a vocation à devenir une échelle décisive de gouvernement des sociétés. Cette thèse s’adresse aux juristes français et a pour ambition de leur expliquer la Chine décentralisée ainsi que l’évolution juridique et politique qui a mené à la situation actuelle. Notamment depuis une trentaine d’années, les pouvoirs locaux prennent de plus en plus de place dans la vie politique, administrative et juridique de la Chine. La thèse présente le cadre essentiellement constitutionnel de la décentralisation à la chinoise, et expose également la dimension pratique de son fonctionnement. À ce titre sont vus les changements de statut des échelons autonomes, leurs capacités juridiques et politiques et le degré de leur autonomie, tant du point de vue de la décentralisation que de la déconcentration. Le régime local se présente en Chine de manière extrêmement diversifié, à la fois dans une dimension chronologique et diachronique. / This thesis focuses on the diversity of local authorities in China, who are found between traditional centralizing tendency and autonomist innovative evolution. The central authorities in China still carry most of the powers of the state and overlap powerfully to local authorities. However, even if they are under the control of central authorities, local authorities have now acquired competences in multiple areas, such as economy, social sector, urban planning, culture, environment and sport. Local authorities thus represent today real centers of power that covets politicians during political events. But unlike in France, local authorities are presented in China in the context of the communist regime. However, as in France, the decentralization and deconcentration policy represents a challenge for public policy development. In this regard, the local level has changed status: it aims to become a decisive level of government corporations. This thesis is for French legal professionals and aims to explain the decentralized China also the legal and political developments which led to the current situation. Especially since the latest thirty years, that local authorities become having more and more space in the political, administrative and legal life of China. The thesis not only presents essentially the constitutional framework of decentralization in China, but also exposes the practical dimension of its operation. As are seen changes in the status of autonomous levels, their legal and political capacity and the degree of autonomy, both from the perspective of decentralization as deconcentration. The local regime in China has extremely diverse manner in both a chronological and diachronic dimension. This diversity of local authorities is demonstrated through both parts of the thesis