Wydział Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytet Warszawski

Guest Lecture at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Warsaw

 The Politics and Law of Bureaucratic Inertia

 We warmly invite you to a guest lecture by Professor Sarah Biddulph from the Melbourne Law School – one of the world’s leading law schools – who will discuss the political and legal dimensions of bureaucratic inertia in contemporary China.

Speaker:
Professor Sarah Biddulph
Professor of Law, Melbourne Law School (Director of the Asian Law Centre)
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Date & Time:
 Wednesday, 17 September 2025
 4:45 p.m.

Venue:
Room 209, Collegium Iuridicum I, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Warsaw
Online Access (Zoom):
 Join via Zoom https://uw-edu-pl.zoom.us/j/93734481582

Registration form:
 Google Form https://forms.gle/jbifL329fFDY8UEKA

 About the Speaker

Sarah Biddulph is Professor of Law at the Melbourne Law School, where she also serves as Director of the Asian Law Centre. She is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Her research focuses on the Chinese legal system, with particular emphasis on the administration of justice, human rights, administrative law, criminal procedure, labour law, and the law regulating social and economic rights.

 Abstract of the Talk

This lecture examines the problem of officials who do not diligently perform their roles-what has come to be described as bureaucratic inertia. Focusing on Chinese government and Party officials who “lie flat,” Professor Biddulph explores how this issue is framed, addressed, and sanctioned.

Her interest began with labour law, observing how agencies responsible for labour inspection and workplace rights often failed to enforce laws or imposed minimal sanctions. She demonstrates that weak enforcement is rooted not only in individual failings but also in broader legal, institutional, and structural factors.

Yet, the Party overwhelmingly frames bureaucratic inertia as an issue of individual turpitude, prioritizing political loyalty to Xi Jinping and Party Central over professionalism and efficiency. Responses have been both political and legal, targeting officials through ideological education, supervision, disciplinary sanctions, and rectification campaigns. Ironically, these measures often exacerbate inertia.

By examining bureaucratic inertia, the talk sheds light on the relationship between officials and political stability, as well as on the deeper tensions within the Communist Party’s governance model- balancing demands for political loyalty with the need for professional expertise.