Matthew Erie

How Chinese Miners Adapt to Kyrgyzstan’s Legal Compliance Negative public perception about Chinese expansion into Kyrgyzstan, along with an unpredictable regulatory environment, has profoundly shaped Chinese business practices inside Kyrgyzstan. Despite comm...

Great @carnegieendowment.org report out by Asel Dooletkeldieva & Till Mostowlansky on Chinese miners' adaptation to regulatory environment in Kyrgyzstan.

Funded by @erc.europa.eu and the China, Law and Development project.

carnegieendowment.org/posts/2025/0...

Latest newsletter from @ox.ac.uk China Centre out:

www.chinacentre.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/ch...

#China's GDP growth in #Q2 (5.2%) shows that #Trump has not yet been able to dent China's growth. One of the main factors behind such a number is external demand: not only are exports growing fast (5.8%), but imports are stagnant (1.1%), as well as consumption (vouchers might have helped a bit).

Yuck.

Heads up: militarization of ICE as sledgehammer of federal government against all perceived opponents.

Okay but instead of poaching scholars under strain and further thinning US academia, Japanese universities could also think of ways to support scholars who remain in country (eg joint funding schemes, exchange programs, etc).

N.B. I say the same thing to my European colleagues.

STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it has saved *92M* lives. Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost up to *14M* lives thru 2030. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Here is the study in The Lancet, which estimates that the elimination of USAID funding could lead to over 14 million deaths, including over 4.5 million children, by 2030:
www.thelancet.com/jo...

UVA President James Ryan Caved to MAGA—and They Forced Him Out Anyway Ryan had not fought Trump on DEI and other matters. His forced ouster proves that no capitulation is enough.

“Only the complete destruction of the greatest knowledge-production system in the history of the world will stop them from decapitating and dismantling American universities.”

newrepublic.com/article/1973...

Amazing. Love this.

Devastating. We need push back on this.

An important study especially regarding dynamics both within and outside China on China scholarship.

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Los Angeles Dodgers donate $1m to families affected by Ice raids Team, which said it stopped Ice agents entering parking lot on Thursday, makes donation to immigrant families

Some good news.

www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

Imperial President at Home, Emperor Abroad American foreign policy in an age of unrestrained executive power.

“Many scholars have found that personalist dictators tend to be more militarily aggressive.”

Prophetic.

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Let me know if you come to Oxford. We have accents here.

A hugely influential work.

"Legal Brokers of Overseas Investment in Emerging Economies: Achieving or Undermining Compliance?" by Molly Bodurtha, Sokphea Young, and myself now up on @ox.ac.uk Business Law Blog.

blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/oblb/blog-po...

#compliance
#legalservices
#corruption

DOJ finds Trump can abolish areas protected as national monuments An opinion released by the Office of Legal Counsel concludes the president can abolish national monuments declared by past administrations.

No.

In a previous life, I was a “shovel bum” (conservation archaeologist) in US nat’l parks and gained a deep appreciation for these places & their importance to the country.

This is another revisionist reading of law that should be opposed.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Helpful. Thanks!

Trump’s stunning streak of losses in lower courts Read more here.

Judges across the political spectrum, including 72% of Republican appointees and 80% of Democratic appointees, are ruling against the Trump administration at high rates, according to a recent study from Stanford.

www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Summer reading.

A (Non?)Travel Toolkit for Anthropologists (and anyone!) The academic year is finally winding down and many of us are hoping to travel— for research, fun, or a bit of both. But things look very different under Trump 2.0—particularly for international tra…

Helpful.

politicalandlegalanthro.org/2025/05/23/t...

Thanks for this, @ssrn.bsky.social!

By way of further background, the article tried to make sense of how those engaging in comparative law projects may operate through various forms of emotion including faux emotion, projection, psychological sabotage, and gaslighting, among others.

How to Protect Our Judges They are the most important bulwark against Trump, which is why he has targeted them and why they’re endangered. Here’s what should be done.

Protect our judges.

open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

Looks like a timely event.

www.su.se/department-o...

Great to see this out. This is the result of 6 years of planning and research and will be forthcoming as part of a special issue in #RegGov. Many thanks to my co-authors Molly Bodurtha & Sokphea Young.

#CLD

Congratulations, @anandian.bsky.social. Can’t wait to read.

The Survival of Democracy Depends on Our Willingness to Fight Justice Riggs is right. We should not have to fight for democracy. But the reality is that we must.

We will not win the battle for democracy if those in the pro-democracy movement prize caution over taking risks. We cannot permit ourselves to be deterred by the defeats and public criticism that are inevitable along the long path of restoring democracy. Now is the time for fearless leadership.

China to donate $500 million to WHO, stepping into gap left by U.S. Beijing will replace the United States as the organization’s top state donor, expanding its influence as the U.S. retreats from international cooperation.

The US is ceding global leadership to China.

Nice to see this piece by @csis.org's Philip Luck & Richard Gray on "The Shifting Landscape of US-China Economic Relations" in @lawfaremedia.org. Hope it can nudge US policy makers towards a more nuanced and calibrated engagement with China on trade regulation.

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...