FUBAI: differing Chinese views of corruption since Tiananmen: does a road paved with corruption lead to socialism?

Corruption, particularly in the public official based definition which is dominant in reform China, involves the violation of administrative ethics and responsibilities for private gain. Corruption has long been a key factor in analyzing and understanding modernization in Communist and Third World countries. Corruption has the potential to undermine a regime's legitimacy and power as well as a nation's economy. Moreover, by contributing to both economic and political polarization, it also has the potential to significantly influence the social stratification and overall social structure of societies in the midst of significant political, economic and social transformation; in other words, how they ‘modernize’. While the majority of Chinese analyses of corruption recognize the threat posed by corruption, they disagree on the sources and consequences of such corruption, and thus on the means for controlling and/or eliminating it.

The success of any anti-corruption process is determined by a) the causes and consequences of corruption and the ways in which they are perceived or blocked out by the regime's analytical framework; b) regime goals, including the degree to which, by promoting the transformation of the forms of legitimate economic intercourse, it encourages changing what is defined as corruption and c) the degree to which it is capable of accomplishing its goals once set. However, inasmuch as the dominant Chinese analysis tend2 to exclude certain key factors, frequently including the regime's goals in ‘modernizing’ Chinese society, the present anti-corruption policies are not likely to be successful.     

Public Administration Reform in Jordan: Concepts and Practices

ABSTRACT

This study reviews the transition of Jordan from a British colony to a modern independent state. It covers contextual attributes influencing the development of the administrative system such as centralization, demographic explosion, low economic growth, excessive reliance on patronage in recruitment for public positions, and corruption. These and other factors hinder administrative reform efforts. As case analysis illustrates, administrative decision making is non-institutional, regularly undermines the merit system, indifferent to accountability, and manifests a low commitment to professional ethics. The study emphasizes that administrative reform in Jordan needs to reconcile these obstacles and to advance skilled and ethical organizational leaders.     

The process of professionalization and the rebuilding of administrative ethics in post-MAO China

The process of professionalization for Chinese administration is in essence one that is shifting from the Party's cadres to the civil servants of the state, from a revolutionary clique with a special mission to a professional administrative group serving the general interest of the society. As a revolutionary clique existing under the Party's leadership for a long time, it was characterized by “traditional features,” such as not being open to all citizens, politics overwhelming administration, management based on personal style rather than professional norms, etc. These features, to a large degree, produced a corresponding administrative attitude, ethics and behavior, which include a sense of “paternal official,” self-discipline, adoring personalized authority. They in turn support the traditional system with both positive and negative consequences.

The economic reform provided the impetus for changing the traditional system, and new framework with a strange civil service emerged, with such professional characteristics as opening jobs up to the whole society, respect for law and regulation, management and promotion based on merit, etc. However, the negative side of the economic reform has hindered the further development of professionalization. In particular, corruption and negligence of administrative ethics have undermined the new system. Further professionalization needs a spirit provided by rebuilding public administration: changing ideology and attitude, innovating institutions, and reforming the culture.     

Corruption and anti-corruption in reform China

During the transition period, the extent of corruption in China is higher than before. Meanwhile the forms and characters of Chinese corruption are also different in many important aspects from those of its past and of other countries. This paper explores the causes, consequences of corruption and anti-corruption campaigns of the Chinese government. The major conclusion of this paper is that further political reform toward democracy should be the direction of future anti-corruption efforts.     

A Challenging State of Affairs: Public Administration in the Republic of Lebanon

ABSTRACT

This article highlights Lebanon’s administrative challenges and reform efforts, since the end of its Civil War (1975–1990). In recent years, Lebanon and international donors have worked to improve transparency, promote modern management techniques, and encourage the use of information technology throughout the public sector. Despite these efforts, Lebanon’s public institutions remain constrained by the centralization of power, corruption, outdated bureaucratic structures, and deficiencies in administrative knowledge. The success of future reform efforts will depend on whether the Lebanese bureaucracy can overcome the challenges created by regional political tensions, its Syrian refugee crisis, and an increasingly indifferent Lebanese public.     

UNCERTAINTY,ACCULTURATION, AND CORRUPTION IN HONG KONG

This article assesses how the integration of Hong Kong with China affects the problem of corruption in Hong Kong. In addition to the increased opportunities for corruption due to the growing presence of Chinese investments in Hong Kong and the incessant social and economic interaction between the two regions, this article focuses on the impact of uncertainty and acculturation arising from this integration. Moral control of corruption is hampered as people feel uncertain about their future and succumb to the temptation to earn quick money. Hong Kong businessmen have also been involved in the process of acculturation, i.e., adapting to the corrupt business culture on the Mainland. The power of the ICAC, as the major means of external control of corruption, has also been questioned due to human rights concerns caused by political uncertainty. This article argues that reconstituting the legitimacy of the government and resolving the uncertainty clouding the community will be a necessary step to strengthen popular confidence in the new government and its anticorruption endeavors.     

Toward a Strategy for Combating Corruption

Corruption is an existential problem that can destroy the functioning of individual organizations as well as undermine entire societies. The ethics literature within the discipline of public administration fails to address adequately the challenges posed by corruption. A three-step strategy outlined in this article develops a rational approach for reducing corruption in organizations through education and enhanced probability of punishment.     

Incompetence, Noise, and Fear in Central-Local Relations in China

In this article, I analyze how the structure of the Chinese state affects the probability that local cadres will comply with the directives of the center. Because the Chinese state consists of a five-level hierarchy of dyadic principal-agent relationships, the existence of even moderate levels of routine incompetence and noise ensures that compliance will be less than perfect due to simple error. Moreover, because the center cannot perfectly differentiate between simple incompetence and willful disobedience, the structure of the state enables cadres to engage in strategic disobedience. I thus conclude that the complexity of the linkages between center and locality are a major factor in the observed persistence of corruption and institutional malfeasance. Andrew Wedeman is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His research focuses on the political economy of reform in China and specifically on the effects of corruption on development, both in China and elsewhere in the developing world. Recent publications include: “Budgets, Extra-Budgets, and Small Treasuries: The Utility of Illegal Monies”,Journal of Contemporary China; “Agency and Fiscal Dependence in Central-Provincial Relations in China”,Journal of Contemporay China; “Stealing from the Farmers: Institutional Corruption and the 1992 IOU Crisis”.China Quarterly and “Looters, Rent-Scrappers, and Dividend-Collectors: Corruption and Growth in Zaire, South Korea, and the Philippines”,The Journal of Developing Areas.     

Reform,corruption, and growth: Why corruption is more devastating in Russia than in China

This article explains why massive political corruption appears to be incompatible with economic growth in Russia but compatible with very rapid economic growth in China. The common assumption is that corruption is bad for economic performance. So how can we explain the puzzling contrast between Russia and China? Is Russia being more severely “punished” for its corruption than China? If so, why? This article demonstrates that three intervening factors—comparative advantage, the organization of corruption, and the nature of rents—determines the impact of corruption on economic performance, and that these factors can explain the divergent outcomes. The article thereby offers an alternative to statist explanations of the Russia-China paradox.     

Open Government Information: Challenges Faced by Public Human Resource Management in China

The implementation in China of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Open Government Information, on May 1, 2008, is considered a potential turning point, a shift from traditional public administration characterized by an entrenched culture of secrecy toward more transparent and accountable administration practices. This article shows, however, that due to a variety of institutional constraints, the implementation of the Regulations is still lacking. Although the success of an open government information (OGI) regime in China ultimately relies on thorough political and administrative reforms, this article presents the argument that short of drastic political system change, the implementation of the Regulations could be improved by adopting innovations at the management level. This article suggests that the Chinese government adopt new human resource management strategies in leadership, training, and performance management that are compatible with OGI in order to significantly improve the implementation of the Regulations. An incremental approach to improving OGI implementation in China will finally pave the way for future political reform.     

Retrospective and perspective on China's administrative reform

To promote China's modernization and development, the post-Mao Chinese leaders have implemented several reform measures that gradually changed the country's traditional cadre system. This study examines the experience of China's post-Mao administrative reform implemented since the late 1970s. First, the study reviews the background and scope of the administrative reform. It then analyzes several issues that may affect the future development of administrative reform. The implications of the Chinese experience are provided.     

After pension reform: Navigating the “Third Rail” in China

Studies of pension reform in developing and transition economies tend to take for granted the capacity of states to implement ambitious and complicated new schemes for the provision of old-age income to pensioners. This article explains the fragmented, decentralized pattern of pension administration in China as an unintended consequence of pension reform. Policy legacies from the command-economy period, principal-agent problems in the reform period, and the threat of pension protests left urban governments largely in control of pension administration. The central government thus succeeded in its policy goals of pension reform but failed to gain administrative control over pension funds. Mark W. Frazier is assistant professor of political science and the Luce Assistant Professor of East Asian Political Economy at Lawrence University. He is the author ofThe Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace: State, Revolution, and Labor Management (Cambridge University Press, 2002). His current research focuses on how central and local governments in China compete over pension reform. The author gratefully acknowledges helpful comments from Mary E. Gallagher, William Hurst, Dorothy Solinger, Jaeyoun Won, and two anonymous reviewers fromStudies in Comparative International Development. Funds for this research were provided by the Luce Foundation, the University of Louisville, and Lawrence University.     

Problems of corruption and distrust in political and administrative institutions in Slovenia

Corruption is perceived in all societies as a social pathology that causes great material and moral damage and is a threat to the society's continual development. Especially in countries with a freshly consolidated democracy, as Slovenia, the phenomena of corruption must be treated with all due attention. This article emphasises that corruption in Slovenia is publicly perceived as one of the most important and even increasing problems in society. We are also analysing one of the crucial side effects of the corruption, resulting itself in ever deeper public distrust to most significant political and administrative institutions.     

Is Corruption Really Bad for Inequality? Evidence from Latin America

This article presents new evidence on the relationship between corruption and income inequality. Using a panel data methodology, we find that lower corruption is associated with higher income inequality in Latin America. This result is in contrast to other empirical studies but it makes sense in Latin America for a number of reasons. The finding of an inverse relationship between inequality and corruption suggests that institutional reform policies by themselves may be misguided.     

Democratic consolidation in Central America: A qualitative comparative approach

An end to KKN-the Indonesian acronym for corruption, collusion and nepotism-is currently one of the demands of Indonesia's growing reform movement. This is not the first time corruption has been on the political agenda in Indonesia; indeed, Suharto came to power promising to end corruption. Tackling corruption, however, was not one of the priorities of the Suharto regime and under Suharto KKN thrived while protesting voices were silenced. This article examines the political, economic and cultural conditions which have allowed corruption to flourish in Indonesia and concludes by considering whether the new poltical mood in the country since the fall of Suharto offers hope for a new, more corruption-free Indonesia.     

Do donors promote corruption?: the case of Mozambique

Donors inveigh against corruption, yet give more aid to corrupt governments. Debate continues on the causes of developing country corruption, but with little consideration of the possibility that the behaviour of donors may unintentionally promote corruption. This article looks at the example of Mozambique, where corruption grew rapidly in the 1990s. It argues that the donor community is prepared to tolerate quite blatant corruption if the elite rapidly puts into place ‘market‐friendly’ policy changes. The article notes that the Mozambican elite is divided, but the group which challenged high level corruption also criticised World Bank adjustment policies; donors opted for the corrupt faction that told the donors what they wanted. Donors try to avoid the issue by concentrating on institutional reform, which the corrupt faction has so far been able to bypass. The issue is compounded by Mozambique's reputation as one of the World Bank's few success stories in Africa, and donors are reluctant to besmirch that image by publicly raising the corruption issue.     

Organizational ethics and bureaucratic corruption in Chinese school

This paper takes issue with a central theme in the literature on corruption that a centralized bureaucratic structure necessarily promotes corruption. It argues that the growth of corruption after 1976 was not so much the result of a centralized bureaucratic structure as that of the changing organizational ethics in the schools. In an examination of the schools since 1949, it shows that their structures have not changed radically. But by separating the organizational ethics into their real and ideal dimensions, it demonstrates that despite the continuity in the official goals and codes of ethics, the ‘real’ or fundamental organizational ethic have changed, and new standards of behavior have prompted members to break organizational rules in the more or less decentralized organizational structures.     

The North‐South dialogue revisited: Some personal reflections

This article focuses on the experiences of South Korea and the Philippines and examines the relationship of corruption to political and economic development. It argues that corruption is a manifestation of specific sets of state-society relations, political systems, development trajectories and types of external linkages. Corruption in these contexts should not be seen as pathological phenomena but as deeply integrated into the particular path of political and economic development. The article further identifies the context and scope for reform.     

From London to Beijing: Training and Development as an Agent of Policy Learning in Public Management

The education and training of international public managers is a powerful mechanism for policy learning and transfer. In a way similar to the globalization of MBA studies, which has contributed to the international diffusion of Western derived management concepts, a number of countries are investing in overseas training programs for their public servants to bring back international “know how” and good practice. Although this practice has been coterminous with the expansion of relatively easier and affordable international travel, policy learning activity in the area of administrative reform appears to have intensified.

Though largely undocumented, the UK has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of cohorts of Chinese civil servants arriving to enroll in short courses. Many of these courses are conducted outside the University system and are arranged and hosted by independent organizations. Despite this being a growth industry, the impacts are unclear and raise a number of questions, such as, what is being learned about UK public administration and how much of it is being transferred back to China? What is it about UK public administration that has particular appeal to China? Although training and development may have a multiple agenda, the assumption is that its primary purpose is to facilitate knowledge transfer. This article sets out to understand whether this recent trend constitutes an agent of international policy transfer between Britain and China. To do this, the article analyses the nature of policy learning from the UK within a cohort of senior Chinese public servants.