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Article: Weapons of the Powerful: Authoritarian Elite Competition and Politicized Anticorruption in China
Title | Weapons of the Powerful: Authoritarian Elite Competition and Politicized Anticorruption in China |
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Authors | |
Keywords | anticorruption authoritarian politics China elite competition patronage |
Issue Date | 2017 |
Publisher | Sage Publications, Inc. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.sagepub.com/journal.aspx?pid=84 |
Citation | Comparative Political Studies, 2017, v. 50 n. 9, p. 1186-1220 How to Cite? |
Abstract | What motivates authoritarian regimes to crack down on corruption? We argue that just as partisan competition in democracies tends to politicize corruption, authoritarian leaders may exploit anticorruption campaigns to target rival supporters during internal power struggles for consolidating their power base. We apply this theoretical framework to provincial leadership turnover in China and test it using an anticorruption data set. We find that intraelite power competition, captured by the informal power configuration of government incumbents and their predecessors, can increase investigations of corrupt senior officials by up to 20%. The intensity of anticorruption propaganda exhibits a similar pattern. The findings indicate that informal politics can propel strong anticorruption drives in countries without democratically-accountable institutions, although the drives tend to be selective, arbitrary, and factionally biased. |
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/234282 |
ISSN | 2023 Impact Factor: 4.2 2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 3.491 |
ISI Accession Number ID |
DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.author | Zhu, J | - |
dc.contributor.author | Zhang, D | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2016-10-14T07:00:19Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2016-10-14T07:00:19Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2017 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | Comparative Political Studies, 2017, v. 50 n. 9, p. 1186-1220 | - |
dc.identifier.issn | 0010-4140 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/234282 | - |
dc.description.abstract | What motivates authoritarian regimes to crack down on corruption? We argue that just as partisan competition in democracies tends to politicize corruption, authoritarian leaders may exploit anticorruption campaigns to target rival supporters during internal power struggles for consolidating their power base. We apply this theoretical framework to provincial leadership turnover in China and test it using an anticorruption data set. We find that intraelite power competition, captured by the informal power configuration of government incumbents and their predecessors, can increase investigations of corrupt senior officials by up to 20%. The intensity of anticorruption propaganda exhibits a similar pattern. The findings indicate that informal politics can propel strong anticorruption drives in countries without democratically-accountable institutions, although the drives tend to be selective, arbitrary, and factionally biased. | - |
dc.language | eng | - |
dc.publisher | Sage Publications, Inc. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.sagepub.com/journal.aspx?pid=84 | - |
dc.relation.ispartof | Comparative Political Studies | - |
dc.rights | Comparative Political Studies. Copyright © Sage Publications, Inc. | - |
dc.subject | anticorruption | - |
dc.subject | authoritarian politics | - |
dc.subject | China | - |
dc.subject | elite competition | - |
dc.subject | patronage | - |
dc.title | Weapons of the Powerful: Authoritarian Elite Competition and Politicized Anticorruption in China | - |
dc.type | Article | - |
dc.identifier.email | Zhu, J: zhujn@hku.hk | - |
dc.identifier.authority | Zhu, J=rp01624 | - |
dc.description.nature | postprint | - |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1177/0010414016672234 | - |
dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-85021746476 | - |
dc.identifier.hkuros | 267595 | - |
dc.identifier.volume | 50 | - |
dc.identifier.issue | 9 | - |
dc.identifier.spage | 1186 | - |
dc.identifier.epage | 1220 | - |
dc.identifier.isi | WOS:000404713200002 | - |
dc.publisher.place | United States | - |
dc.identifier.issnl | 0010-4140 | - |