From Georg Simmel’s relationalsociology to Michel Foucault’s concept of “relational power”, from WesleyHohfeld’s rights as a bundle of relations schema to Ian Macneil’s relationalcontract theory, the said “relational law” has emerged as a critical field insocio-legal studies. Indeed, without human interactions and the relationshipsthey forge, it would be impossible to comprehend or articulate the order of lawand society. The relations as the form of communication can also be understoodas the Minimum Unit of societies. In Asia, relationships hold particular andprofound significance. For instance, China is described as a “relationship(guanxi)-centric society”, Japan’s informal dispute resolution tends to favorrelational approaches, Southeast Asian business practices are characterized by “relationalcapitalism”, and so forth. In the digital age, virtual spaces forminterconnected networks, big data derives value from its relationality, andartificial intelligence, especially Generative AI transforms individualism intoa typified collectivism, and people have to live in interactions where the “I”inevitably manifests as part of a “we”. The convergence of traditional anddigital network structures amplifies relational cultures and even fosters theemergence of a relational civilization.
Against this backdrop, legalstudies are inevitably undergoing a relational turn, necessitating paradigmshifts in knowledge production. By situating individuals within relationalinteractions and centering “relationality” as a key lens for describing,understanding, interpreting, and governing society, the relational law providesa theoretical framework and methodological toolkit for reimagining theprinciples of order in Asia. It also holds significant implications for advancingsocio-legal studies. To this end, the Asian Journal of Law and Society plans tocurate a special issue themed “Relational Turn in Law: Practices andImplications in Asia” and hereby invites submissions.
We welcome papers addressing, butnot limited to the following topics:
1. Global Relational Governance andReconstructing Asian Order in the Context of Legal Pluralism
2. Relational Perspectives on AsianLegal Cultures: Tradition and Innovation
3. Deepening Relational Sociology:Applications, Reflections, and Insights in Asian Law
4. Relational Rights and RelationalLegal Consciousness in Asian Contexts
5. Relational Dispute ResolutionMechanisms and Asian Legal Practices
6. Law-Society Interactions throughthe Lens of Game Theory
7. Social Network Analysis as aMethod for Empirical Legal Studies
8. Governance of Asian DigitalSpaces and Relational Order in the Web3 Era
9. Relationality, CommunicationProtocols and Co-evolutional AI (CAI) in the Human-Machine Coexistence Age
10. Networked Societies andCyberculture in the 21st Century
Authors are invited to submit anabstract of 400 words by August 31, 2025. Abstracts should besubmitted via email to the Administrative Editor (email: ajlseditors@sjtu.edu.cn). The abstract should include the author’s name, affiliation, and emailaddress. Please indicate in the e-mail subject line that this is the submissionof the abstract for this special issue. Manuscripts that have beenpublished or accepted for publication will not be considered.
Notification of acceptance ofabstracts will be sent by October 31, 2025. Authors of selectedabstracts will be invited to submit a full manuscript by the end ofFebruary 2026. All submitted manuscripts will undergo double-blind peerreview. Final decisions on manuscripts will be communicated to authors by May31, 2026.
Editor-in-Chief:
Professor Weidong Ji
China Institute for Socio-LegalStudies, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
For further information, pleasecontact the Administrative Editor or the Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Journalof Law and Society. We look forward to receiving your submissions.
AJLS Website：
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-law-and-society
Author Instructions：
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-law-and-society/information/author-instructions/preparing-your-materials
Call for Papers：
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-law-and-society/announcements/call-for-papers/relational-turn-in-law-practices-and-implications-in-asia