Collaborative Research Networks
Organizers
Yukyong Jung Yun Choe, Denis De Castro Halis, Hiroshi Fukurai, Takayuki Ii, Jonathan Liljeblad
Law and society in East Asia are undergoing profound change and fundamental transformation in its regional and global role, creating fertile ground for innovative socio-legal research. CRN33 engages with these transformations not only within East Asia but also across neighboring regions from Northeast to West Asia, particularly in light of the growing influence of BRICS states such as China, India, and Russia and other major regional actors. These shifts are reshaping geopolitical and legal landscapes in Asia, as well as in Africa, the Americas, and Oceania.
Building on this momentum, CRN33 was formed to collaborate closely with other CRNs and to provide a forum for promoting collaborative research on these critical regions, as well as for disseminating findings to a broader community of socio-legal scholars. As a result, CRN33 encompasses a wide range of Asian regions and welcomes scholars from other parts of the world who seek to enrich their research and theoretical frameworks through engagement with socio-legal developments in Asia.
Sessions organized by CRN33 invite papers on all aspects of law and society in East Asia. The network originated in 2010 with the establishment of the biennial East Asian Law & Society Conference and has convened annual regional meetings since 2015, beginning with the fourth conference held in Tokyo, Japan. These regional meetings, organized under the auspices of the Asian Law and Society Association (ALSA), have since taken place in Singapore (2016), Taiwan (2017), Australia (2018), Japan (2019), Thailand (2021), Vietnam (2022), Malaysia (2023), South Korea (2024), and Indonesia (2025).