Juris Doctorate, Law, University of California
Master of Laws (LL.M.), Yale Law School/Yale University
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (B.A. Hons.), Ohio State University
Professor of Law and International Affairs
| mcdavis@jgu.edu.in | |
| Connect with me | |
| Key Expertise | Comparative constitutional law; constitutionalism in emerging states; popular protest and democratization; international human rights; political economy of human rights; human rights and political culture; public international law; sovereignty and the state; federalism and autonomy; indigenous people’s rights; Tibetan rights; and Hong Kong’s constitutional development. |
Juris Doctorate, Law, University of California
Master of Laws (LL.M.), Yale Law School/Yale University
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (B.A. Hons.), Ohio State University
A research associate at both the Weatherhead East Asia Institute at Columbia University and at the US-Asia Law Institute at NYU, Professor Davis has held chaired visiting professorships at Notre Dame and Northwestern universities and senior fellowships at Yale and Harvard law schools. His scholarship has engaged human rights and constitutional development issues across the Asian region. Long a public intellectual in Hong Kong, he was a professor in the Law Faculty at the University of Hong Kong until late 2020. His most recent book, Freedom Undone, The Assault on Liberal Values and Institutions in Hong Kong (Columbia University Press, 2024) elaborates the Hong Kong experience under Beijing’s authoritarian rule. Beyond academic writing, his commentary has appeared in such popular media as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Nikkei, the Journal of Democracy, Politics and Rights Review, and the South China Morning Post. His series of commentary in the latter on the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong won him the 2015 Human Rights Press Award for Commentary awarded by Amnesty International and other affiliates. As a public intellectual he has also been a frequent contributor to various media broadcast and podcast.
For a more comprehensive bio see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_C._Davis
International Human Rights
Constitutionalism in Emerging States
“Award for Distinguished Service and Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Higher Education in India,” JGU, 2015
Human Rights Press Award for Commentary, Amnesty International, 2015
Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center, 2019-25
Residential Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson International Center, 2018-19
Reagan Fascell Senior Fellow, US National Endowment for Democracy, 2016-17
J. Landis Martin Visiting Professor of Human Rights, Northwestern University, Chicago, 2005-06
Robert and Marion Short Visiting Professor Human Rights, University of Notre Dame, 2004-05
Frederick K. Cox Visiting Professor Law, Case Western Reserve University, 2000
ORVILLE H. SCHELL Jr. SENIOR FELLOWSHIP IN HUMAN RIGHTS, Yale Law School, 1994-95
Editorial Board, British Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2013-Present
International Advisory Board, Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law, 2019-Present
Editorial Board, Human Rights Quarterly, 2011-Presen
Editorial Board, Frontiers of Legal Research, 2012-Present
Editorial Advisory Board, Civilitas, 2009-Present
Editorial Board, Journal of Human Rights, 2001-Present
Editorial Board, Social Affairs, 2014-Present
Author, Freedom Undone: The Assault on Liberal Values in Hong Kong (New York: Columbia University Press, AAS Series, 2024) https://cup.columbia.edu/book/freedom-undone/9781952636448 For a discussion of the book see New Books Network at https://newbooksnetwork.com/freedom-undone. Reviewed: Literary Review, April 2024, pp. 29-30, https://literaryreview.co.uk/land-where-allegories-are-banned, and discussion in https://www.wilsoncenter.org/video/freedom-undone-assault-liberal-values-and-institutions-hong-kong
Author, Making Hong Kong China: The Rollback of Human Rights and the Rule of Law (New York: Columbia University Press, AAS Series, 11/2020). https://cup.columbia.edu/book/making-hong-kong-china/9781952636134
For a discussion of the book: https://china.usc.edu/video-michael-davis-looks-one-country-two-systems and https://usali.org/institute-news/event-recording-making-hong-kong-china
New Books Network podcast on the book: https://newbooknetwork.com/making-hong-kong-china
Author, with Thomas Kellogg, The Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong, Discontent and Rule of Law Challenges, Report on Hong Kong (Washington: Georgetown University and NDI, April 2020). https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/Final_04.11.20_The%20Promise%20of%20Democratization%20in%20Hong%20Kong.pdf
Chief Editor, International Intervention in the Post-Cold-War World: Moral Responsibility and Power Politics, (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2004), with Dieter Sepp, Wolfgang Dietrich and Bettina Scholdan.
Editor, Cong Falu, Zhexue He Zhengzhi Guandian Kan Renquan Yu Zhongguo Jiazhiguan (Human Rights and Chinese Values, Legal, Philosophical and Political Perspectives) (Chinese Edition: Oxford University Press, 1997).
Editor, Human Rights and Chinese Values: Legal, Philosophical and Political Perspectives (English Edition: Oxford University Press, 1995).
Coeditor, The Aftermath of the 1989 Crisis in Mainland China (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), with B. J. Lin, et. al.
Author, Constitutional Confrontation in Hong Kong (London: Macmillan Press, 1990; New York: St. Martins Press, 1990) (Excerpts republished in M. Dixon, R. McCorquodale, Cases & Materials on International Law, Blackstone Press, 1995). https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-20395-6
“Popular Civil Society Resistance and the Survival of Hong Kong: A Clash of Civilizations,” Fiona de Londras and Cora Chan, China’s National Security Endangering Hong Kong’s Rule of Law? (Hart/Bloomsbury, 2020)
“The Clash of Legal Cultures: Hong Kong Efforts to Embrace the Liberal Rule of Law vs. Beijing’s Hardline Authoritarian Legality,” in Hualing Fu and Weitseng Chen, eds., Authoritarian Legality in Asia: Formation, Development and Transition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020)
“Human Rights and Political Opposition in Hong Kong,” in Sarah Biddulph and Joshua Rosenzweig, ed., Human Rights in China: Contested Meanings (a handbook on human rights in China) (Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2019), pp. 588-604.
“US Human Rights Policy and Asia: View from the Region,” in Scott Harold, ed. Pivot to Asia (Washington: Rand Corporation, 2018).
“Chinese Policies on Regional Self-Government: The Case of Tibet,” in Roberto Toniatti and Jens Woelk, eds., Regional Autonomy, Cultural Diversity and Differentiated Territorial Government: The Case of Tibet—Chinese and Comparative Perspectives (Oxford and New York: Routledge Press, 2017) Ch. 4. https://www.routledge.com/Regional-Autonomy-Cultural-Diversity-and-Differentiated-Territorial-Government/Toniatti-Woelk/p/book/9780415525350
“Promises to Keep: The ‘Umbrella Movement,” the Basic Law and Democratic Reform in Hong Kong” in Mahmood Monshipouri, ed., Information Politics, Protests, and Human Rights in the Digital Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), Ch. 11, pp. 239-266.
“Chinese Policies in Tibet: Should India Remain Concerned?” in Francesco Palermo, Giovanni Poggeschi, Günther Rautz and Jens Woelk (eds.) Globalization, Technologies and Legal Revolution. The Impact of Global Changes on Territorial and Cultural Diversities, on Supranational Integration and Constitutional Theory (Nomos, Baden-Baden, Fall, 2012), pp. 91-112. http://www.nomos-shop.de/Palermo-Poggeschi-Rautz-Woelk-Globalization-Technologies-Legal-Revolution/productview.aspx?product=19776
“International Recognition of Autonomy for Indigenous Populations: The Case of Tibet,” in Baden Offord, Rob Garbutt, and Beechen Goh, eds., Activating Human Rights and Peace: Theories, Practices and Contexts (Surrey, UK: Ashgate,, 2012), pp. 170-185.
“The Political Economy and Culture of Human Rights in East Asia,” in Sarah Joseph and Adam McBeth, eds., Research Handbook on International Human Rights Law (London: Edward Elgar Publishers, 2010) pp. 414-439.
“Autonomy as an Enduring Concept.” in J. Oliveira and P. Cardinal, eds., One Country, Two Systems, Three Legal Orders: Perspectives of Evolution (Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2009) pp 521-526.
“Interpreting Constitutionalism and Democratization in Hong Kong,” in FU Hualing, Lison Harris, and Simon NM Young, Interpreting Hong Kong’s Basic Law: The Struggle for Coherence (London, Palgrave Publishers, Fall 2007), pp. 77-95.
“Europe, America, Asia: Contemporary Wars and Their Implications for World Orders,” in Peter Wagner and Nathalie Karagiannis, eds., Varieties of World-Making: Beyond Globalization (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2007), Chapter 4, pp. 74-89.
“Constitutionalism and Economic Development in Asia: Do Domestic Institutions Matter?” in D. K. Srivastava and C. Raj Kumar, eds., Human Rights and Development: Approaches to the Reform of Governance in Asia (Singapore: Butterworth/Lexis, 2006), Chapter 2, pp. 29-42.
“The Basic Law, Human Rights and Democracy, Theory and Practice,” in Christine Loh, ed., Building Democracy: Creating Good Governance for Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003) Ch 1, pp. 12-26.
“The Emerging World Order: State Sovereignty and Humanitarian Intervention,” in Michael Davis, et al, eds., International Intervention in the Post-Cold-War World: Moral Responsibility and Power Politics (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2004), Chapter 1.
“The Reluctant Intervenor: The UN Security Council, China’s World View and Humanitarian Intervention,” in Michael Davis, et al, eds., International Intervention in the Post-Cold-War World: Moral Responsibility and Power Politics (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2004), Chapter 13, pp. 241-253.
“Constitutional Theory and Hong Kong Practice,” in Green Paper on “Thinking About 2007” Hong Kong, April 2001 (www.hkdf.org).
“Human Rights, Political Values and Development in East Asia,” in Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab, eds., Human Rights: New Perspectives, New Realities (New York: Lynne Reiner, 2000) pp. 139-162.
“The Practice of Autonomous and Self-Government Arrangements” a discussion in Tibetan Autonomy and Self-Government: Myth or Reality (New Delhi: Tibetan Parliament and Policy Research Centre: 2000).
“Human Rights in Hong Kong: The First Year in the Transition,” (with Thomas Eldert and Jeffrey Hom) in Joseph W. Dellapenna and Patrick M. Norton, eds., China and Hong Kong in Legal Transition (Chicago: American Bar Assoc., 2000) pp. 177-207.
“The Asian Values Debate and the Role of the State,” in Edmund Ryden, ed., Human Rights and Values in East Asia (Taipei: Fujen University, 1998) p. 194.
“The Emerging Global Scenario and the East Asian Perspective on Human Rights,” in Mathews G. Chunakara, ed., Globalization and Its Impact on Human Rights (Hong Kong: CCA, 1998).
“Toward Modern Concepts of Sovereignty and Statehood,” in J. Henckaerts, ed., The International Legal Status of Taiwan in the New World Order (London: Kluwer Law International, 1996).
“Chinese Perspectives on Human Rights,” in Michael C. Davis, ed., Human Rights and Chinese Values (Oxford University Press, 1995) (Chinese Edition: Oxford University Press, 1997) (Introduction).
“Adopting International Standards of Human Rights in Hong Kong,” in Michael C. Davis, ed., Human Rights and Chinese Values (Oxford University Press, 1995) (Chinese Edition: OUP, 1997).
“The Bill of Rights of Hong Kong Under the Crossfire of Different Concepts of Human Rights,” in W. Jung, Menschenrechte in Ostasien (Sankt Augustin: Konrad-Adinauer-Stiftung, 1993).
“Tiananmen in Hong Kong,” in B. J. Lin et. al., eds., The Aftermath of the 1989 Crisis in Mainland China (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992).
| mcdavis@jgu.edu.in | |
| Key Expertise | Comparative constitutional law; constitutionalism in emerging states; popular protest and democratization; international human rights; political economy of human rights; human rights and political culture; public international law; sovereignty and the state; federalism and autonomy; indigenous people’s rights; Tibetan rights; and Hong Kong’s constitutional development. |