Braithwaite, John2021-07-062050-4721http://hdl.handle.net/1885/238570This article argues three propositions. The first is that restorative justice should be a legal principle that can trump legal rules, such as sentencing rules. Second it argues for embedding restorative justice in a hybrid political philosophy that is republican-feminist-socialist-capitalist. Third, it goes beyond ‘Persia to China: the Silk Road of Restorative Justice I’, that identified incipient examples of this hybridity from Iran to China, to advance a normative account of hybridity. Travelling the Silk Road is a metaphor for the comparative method required of reformers who seek better governance through hybrid governance.This work was supported by Australian Research Council.application/pdfen-AU© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group201710.1080/20504721.2017.12947952020-11-23