Matthew Erie
@matthewserie.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof. of Law, American U. Washington College of Law; Assoc. Member, Oxford Law; lawyer & anthropologist; writes on non-liberal law, international development, transnational business, property, justice; https://www.matthewserie.com/ Views are my own.
Pinned
I'm happy to announce that we've just published a Casebook on Chinese Outbound Investment: Law, Policy, and Business (CUP 2025).
Given the US's retreat from overseas development, the future of international development looks very Chinese. We need to understand what this means.
lnkd.in/e2KSFgVR.
Given the US's retreat from overseas development, the future of international development looks very Chinese. We need to understand what this means.
lnkd.in/e2KSFgVR.
Congrats, @jeffreyding.bsky.social!
On November 19th, Professor @jeffreyding.bsky.social from The George Washington University received the prestigious Lepgold Book Prize at the Mortara Center. This award recognizes the best book in international relations published in 2024.
Photo credit: @georgetown-sfs.bsky.social
Photo credit: @georgetown-sfs.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Congrats, @jeffreyding.bsky.social!
A win for our judicial system.
Comey and James cases were tossed yesterday in a major setback for Trump’s retribution drive. "A message has to be sent that the president... cannot use the [DOJ] to target his political enemies,” Comey said in a statement.
https://bit.ly/47ZkAK7
https://bit.ly/47ZkAK7
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Political Prosecutions of former FBI Chief Comey, NY AG James
Read more here.
bit.ly
November 25, 2025 at 4:05 PM
A win for our judicial system.
On Nov. 14 & 15, I was fortunate to attend a special conference to honor the life & works of Professor Frank Upham of NYU Law School who is retiring. Frank’s approach to understanding the relationships b/w law, politics, & ideology in comparative & socio-legal studies has left a profound legacy.
November 25, 2025 at 1:50 PM
On Nov. 14 & 15, I was fortunate to attend a special conference to honor the life & works of Professor Frank Upham of NYU Law School who is retiring. Frank’s approach to understanding the relationships b/w law, politics, & ideology in comparative & socio-legal studies has left a profound legacy.
Looking forward to returning to the #AmericanAnthropologicalAssociation annual meeting after about a 10-year hiatus. If there was ever a time to think outside the box, this is it, and anthros are trained to do exactly that.
Excited to participate in these 2 China legal anthro events.
#legalanthro
Excited to participate in these 2 China legal anthro events.
#legalanthro
November 19, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Looking forward to returning to the #AmericanAnthropologicalAssociation annual meeting after about a 10-year hiatus. If there was ever a time to think outside the box, this is it, and anthros are trained to do exactly that.
Excited to participate in these 2 China legal anthro events.
#legalanthro
Excited to participate in these 2 China legal anthro events.
#legalanthro
Reposted by Matthew Erie
let no one say that law professors aren't having impact right now
#BREAKING: In the Illinois National Guard case, #SCOTUS is asking for additional briefing on one of the key substantive questions (and one flagged by my Georgetown colleague @martylederman.bsky.social in an amicus brief):
Among other things, this means no ruling until *at least* the week of 11/17.
Among other things, this means no ruling until *at least* the week of 11/17.
October 29, 2025 at 7:55 PM
let no one say that law professors aren't having impact right now
A hundred times over.
October 28, 2025 at 10:03 AM
A hundred times over.
Inspiring to attend the 2025 #ASCL meeting @ McGill University to discuss law & democracy, decolonization of comparative law, and emerging international orders. A pleasure to organize the panel "ASCL Studies in Comparative Law New Book Panel: Asia, the Global South, and the New Comparative Law."
October 21, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Inspiring to attend the 2025 #ASCL meeting @ McGill University to discuss law & democracy, decolonization of comparative law, and emerging international orders. A pleasure to organize the panel "ASCL Studies in Comparative Law New Book Panel: Asia, the Global South, and the New Comparative Law."
China mimics US foreign direct products rule:
apnews.com/article/chin...
China is indeed learning from US “extraterritoriality.” The US is creating its own Frankenstein.
For a deeper dive on what I call “Adversarial Comparativism”, see papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
apnews.com/article/chin...
China is indeed learning from US “extraterritoriality.” The US is creating its own Frankenstein.
For a deeper dive on what I call “Adversarial Comparativism”, see papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
To hit back at the United States in their trade war, China borrows from the US playbook
China has expanded its export rules on rare earths, requiring foreign firms to get approval for exporting products containing even small amounts of China-originated materials.
apnews.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:29 AM
China mimics US foreign direct products rule:
apnews.com/article/chin...
China is indeed learning from US “extraterritoriality.” The US is creating its own Frankenstein.
For a deeper dive on what I call “Adversarial Comparativism”, see papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
apnews.com/article/chin...
China is indeed learning from US “extraterritoriality.” The US is creating its own Frankenstein.
For a deeper dive on what I call “Adversarial Comparativism”, see papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Matthew Erie
A must read. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
A Compact for Control (opinion)
No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms, Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg write.
www.insidehighered.com
October 7, 2025 at 3:04 PM
A must read. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Go Big Green!
(BA ‘99)
(BA ‘99)
It appears that my employer, Dartmouth, one of the Trump 9, has said no to the compact. All the better given that our president is cited within it. But she’s saying no. Count the small victories when they come.
October 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Go Big Green!
(BA ‘99)
(BA ‘99)
Proud to be Captain of the National Postal Museum. Shout out to the volunteers I’m working with. Citizens are heroes, too.
#savetheSmithsonian
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
#savetheSmithsonian
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Citizen historians document Smithsonian exhibits under White House scrutiny
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. It's a public-private trust that has long operated at arm's length from the White House, but now finds itself...
www.pbs.org
September 29, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Proud to be Captain of the National Postal Museum. Shout out to the volunteers I’m working with. Citizens are heroes, too.
#savetheSmithsonian
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
#savetheSmithsonian
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
After 7 yrs of work, the special issue "China in Compliance" is out with @reggovjournal.bsky.social. The focus is to unpack how #compliance works in globalizing China. #Cambodia #Kyrgyzstan #Tajikistan #Fiji #Vanuatu #Singapore #Taiwan #Ethiopia #Hungary
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
September 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
After 7 yrs of work, the special issue "China in Compliance" is out with @reggovjournal.bsky.social. The focus is to unpack how #compliance works in globalizing China. #Cambodia #Kyrgyzstan #Tajikistan #Fiji #Vanuatu #Singapore #Taiwan #Ethiopia #Hungary
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
Reposted by Matthew Erie
PoLAR is hiring a new managing editor. The full details are available here: shorturl.at/uqEn5
Hiring Announcement: PoLAR Managing Editor
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, the journal of the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA), is hiring a Managing Editor. PoLAR is in an exciting transformational sta…
shorturl.at
September 18, 2025 at 12:22 AM
PoLAR is hiring a new managing editor. The full details are available here: shorturl.at/uqEn5
These figures rebut the “whataboutism” line of the administration.
Extremist murders by ideology, 2013 to 2022. www.pbump.net/o/reassessin...
September 13, 2025 at 12:04 PM
These figures rebut the “whataboutism” line of the administration.
My amazing colleague Bec Hamilton is swimming 20km to raise money for Charlie's Place, a drop-in shelter for homeless in #WashingtonDC whose numbers and hardships are increasing of late. Please consider giving here: www.gofundme.com/f/swim-for-c...
Thank you.
Thank you.
Donate to Marathon swim for people experiencing homelessness in D.C., organized by Rebecca Hamilton
People experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C. are havi… Rebecca Hamilton needs your support for Marathon swim for people experiencing homelessness in D.C.
www.gofundme.com
September 10, 2025 at 1:33 AM
My amazing colleague Bec Hamilton is swimming 20km to raise money for Charlie's Place, a drop-in shelter for homeless in #WashingtonDC whose numbers and hardships are increasing of late. Please consider giving here: www.gofundme.com/f/swim-for-c...
Thank you.
Thank you.
Reposted by Matthew Erie
"We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent." —Justice Sonia Sotomayor
September 9, 2025 at 4:12 PM
"We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent." —Justice Sonia Sotomayor
The incremental normalization of life under authoritarianism is one of its defining features.
Authoritarianism is often not a rupture but, rather, a slow tear.
*Every* day we must be vigilant to this fact.
Authoritarianism is often not a rupture but, rather, a slow tear.
*Every* day we must be vigilant to this fact.
This. 👇👇👇
JB Pritzker: "Any rational person who has spent even the most minimal amount of time studying human history has to ask themselves one important question: Once they get the citizens of this nation comfortable with the current atrocities committed under the color of law, what comes next?”
JB Pritzker: "Any rational person who has spent even the most minimal amount of time studying human history has to ask themselves one important question: Once they get the citizens of this nation comfortable with the current atrocities committed under the color of law, what comes next?”
September 7, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The incremental normalization of life under authoritarianism is one of its defining features.
Authoritarianism is often not a rupture but, rather, a slow tear.
*Every* day we must be vigilant to this fact.
Authoritarianism is often not a rupture but, rather, a slow tear.
*Every* day we must be vigilant to this fact.
Yes!
Washington DC - the bells of this church are ringing in support of the protest! 😁
September 6, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Yes!
Inspiring and on such a hot and humid day!
September 6, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Inspiring and on such a hot and humid day!
Reposted by Matthew Erie
This is what democracy looks like! A people united will never be defeated. We want federal forces out of DC NOW! #WeAreAllDC #FreeDC
September 6, 2025 at 5:16 PM
This is what democracy looks like! A people united will never be defeated. We want federal forces out of DC NOW! #WeAreAllDC #FreeDC
“The follow-up message is that for those of us who are not Supreme Court justices or Republican legislators should resist every day in every way we can. Put sand in the gears, make it slower, make everybody else know that we are not alone, and that there are more of us than there are of them.”
@garrettepps.bsky.social has been a friend and colleague for decades.
An enjoyable (for me) podcast with him this week, for @washingtonmonthly.com , about life in DC these days. Audio and transcript here:
washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/04/f...
An enjoyable (for me) podcast with him this week, for @washingtonmonthly.com , about life in DC these days. Audio and transcript here:
washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/04/f...
Fear and Loathing in Washington D.C.
Contributing Editor James Fallows shares what life is really like in Washington D.C. under military occupation.
washingtonmonthly.com
September 6, 2025 at 11:00 AM
“The follow-up message is that for those of us who are not Supreme Court justices or Republican legislators should resist every day in every way we can. Put sand in the gears, make it slower, make everybody else know that we are not alone, and that there are more of us than there are of them.”
A new study by Kiel Institute on How China Collateralizes show how rather than infrastructure as collateral, it's cash collateral in escrow reserves paid by debtor's commodity exports which underpin such agreements. Governance implications.
www.ifw-kiel.de/fileadmin/Da...
@agelpern.bsky.social
www.ifw-kiel.de/fileadmin/Da...
@agelpern.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 4:46 PM
A new study by Kiel Institute on How China Collateralizes show how rather than infrastructure as collateral, it's cash collateral in escrow reserves paid by debtor's commodity exports which underpin such agreements. Governance implications.
www.ifw-kiel.de/fileadmin/Da...
@agelpern.bsky.social
www.ifw-kiel.de/fileadmin/Da...
@agelpern.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Erie
The ad campaign criticizing the use of masks by federal agents working in Washington, D.C. has expanded to 115 bus stops, per organizers
September 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM
The ad campaign criticizing the use of masks by federal agents working in Washington, D.C. has expanded to 115 bus stops, per organizers