How Corruption Works in China
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 July 2020
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why has modern China prospered in spite of vast corruption? On this episode of ChinaTalk, Jordan Schneider talks with Yuen Yuen Ang, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, about her new book, "China's Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption." She draws comparisons between U.S. history and the China of today, arguing that access money in China functions like campaign finance in the States. They also discuss the implications of corruption for regime stability.
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Transcript
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| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | One of the things that surprised myself the most is that corruption and competent were two things that did not just coexist, |
| 0:41.0 | like they were just accidentally happening at the same time, but that they were actually mutually reinforcing. |
| 0:47.0 | That, if you wanted to be a corrupt official, you actually have to be competent. |
| 0:52.0 | You have to show that you are ambitious, you are the next rising star, |
| 0:56.0 | so that you attract people who actually want to sponsor you. |
| 1:00.0 | And on your hand, if you want to be a competent official, you want to deliver projects, get things done. |
| 1:06.0 | You also, in a sense, need corruption because you need the corporate sponsorship to get things done. |
| 1:13.0 | And we might think of that as a Chinese version of campaign finance. |
| 1:17.0 | In democracies, American politicians can't just exist on their own. |
| 1:22.0 | They need campaign finance. They need funders behind them to do their work. |
| 1:28.0 | Except campaign finance is institutionalized and legalized in this country. |
| 1:32.0 | But I said that as a parallel. In China, a politician also needs campaign finance. |
| 1:38.0 | And so these two things, corruption and competence actually went together. |
| 1:44.0 | I'm Jordan Schneider and this is the LawFair podcast July 24th, 2020. |
| 1:50.0 | I'm back this Friday with another edition of China Talk, the newest member of the LawFair podcast family. |
| 1:55.0 | Why has modern China prospered in spite of vast corruption? |
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