Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T20:56:19.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Military Corruption in China: The Role of Guanxi in the Buying and Selling of Military Positions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2016

Peng Wang
Peng Wang*
Affiliation:
Department of sociology, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Email: pengwang@hku.hk.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How does guanxi facilitate corrupt transactions? Utilizing fieldwork data and published materials, this paper investigates how guanxi practices distort the formal military promotion system and facilitate the buying and selling of military positions in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It identifies the three key functions of guanxi in facilitating corrupt transactions: communication, exchange and neutralization. Guanxi enables effective and safe communication among corrupt military officers, holds transaction partners to their word, and neutralizes their guilt about committing corrupt acts.

摘要

关系是如何促成腐败交易的? 基于公开材料以及实地调查数据, 本文详细探讨了腐败官员如何通过关系运作来影响军队干部的选拔任用, 以及关系如何促成军队内部的买官卖官行为。文章指出关系在腐败交易中的三大作用, 即:联络沟通, 保障交易, 以及抵消罪恶感。具体来讲, 关系为腐败交易双方提供安全有效的信息交流平台, 促使交易双方信守承诺, 以及消减因参与腐败而产生的内心罪恶感。

Keywords

Chinamilitary corruptionguanxipromotionthe PLA中国军队腐败关系干部选拔解放军
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 228 , December 2016 , pp. 970 - 991
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, Kenneth. 2010. “Assessing the PLA's promotion ladder to CMC member based on grades vs. ranks.” China Brief 10(15), 6–9.Google Scholar
Allen, Kenneth W., and Corbett, John F.. 2004. “Predicting PLA leader promotions.” In Wortzel, Larry and Scobell, Andrew (eds.), Civil–Military Change in China: Elites, Institutes, and Ideas after the 16th Party Congress. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 257–277.Google Scholar
Allen, Kenneth, and Shraberg, Aaron. 2011. “Assessing the grade structure for China's aircraft carriers: part 2.” China Brief 10(15), 7–11.Google Scholar
Balafoutas, Loukas. 2011. “Public beliefs and corruption in a repeated psychological game.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 78(1), 51–59.Google Scholar
Bian, Yanjie. 1997. “Bringing strong ties back in: indirect ties, network bridges, and job searches in China.” American Sociological Review 62(3), 366–385.Google Scholar
Chan, Cheris Shun-ching. 2009. “Invigorating the content in social embeddedness: an ethnography of life insurance transactions in China.” American Journal of Sociology 115(3), 712–754.Google Scholar
Chang, Kuang-chi. 2011. “A path to understanding guanxi in China's transitional economy: variations on network behavior.” Sociological Theory 29(4), 315–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chao, Grace Lauren. 2013. “Elite Status in the People's Republic of China: Its Formation and Maintenance.” PhD diss., Columbia University.Google Scholar
Chase, Michael S., Engstrom, Jeffrey, Cheung, Tai Ming, Gunness, Kristen A., Harold, Scott Warren, Puska, Susan and Berkowitz, Samuel K.. 2015. China's Incomplete Military Transformation: Assessing the Weaknesses of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.Google Scholar
Chen, Chao C., Chen, Xiao-Ping and Huang, Shengsheng. 2013. “Chinese guanxi: an integrative review and new directions for future research.” Management and Organization Review 9(1), 167–207.Google Scholar
Cheung, Tai Ming. 2001. China's Entrepreneurial Army: The Structure, Activities, and Economic Returns of the Military Business Complex. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copes, Heith. 2015. “Neutralization theory.” Oxford Bibliographies in Criminology, DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0140.Google Scholar
Della Porta, Donatella, and Vannucci, Alberto. 2005. “The governance mechanisms of corrupt transactions.” In Lambsdorff, Johann Graf, Taube, Markus and Schramm, Matthias (eds.), The New Institutional Economics of Corruption. London: Routledge, 152–180.Google Scholar
Fan, Ying. 2002a. “Questioning guanxi: definition, classification and implications.” International Business Review 11(5), 543–561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, Ying. 2002b. “ Guanxi's consequences: personal gains at social cost.” Journal of Business Ethics 38(4), 371–380.Google Scholar
Heimer, Maria, and Thøgersen, Stig. 2006. Doing fieldwork in China. Denmark: NIAS Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Alison A., and Mackenzie, Peter W.. 2009. The Culture of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Arlington, VA: CNA China Studies.Google Scholar
Ke, Zhujun, and Yue, Lei. 2014. “A cultural examination of Chinese corruption from the angle of personal obligation.” Open Times 33(2), 210–223.Google Scholar
Keister, Lisa A. 2002. “ Guanxi in business groups: social ties and the formation of economic relations.” In Gold, Thomas, Guthrie, Doug and Wank, David (eds.), Social Connections in China: Institutions, Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 77–96.Google Scholar
King, Ambrose Yeo-chi. 1991. “Kuan-hsi and network building.” Daedalus 120(2), 63–84.Google Scholar
Lambsdorff, Johann Graf. 2002. “Making corrupt deals: contracting in the shadow of the law.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 48(3), 221–241.Google Scholar
Li, Ling. 2011a. “Performing bribery in China: guanxi-practice, corruption with a human face.” Journal of Contemporary China 20, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Ling. 2011b. “Lost in translation: the rule of guanxi, an alternative to the rule of law.” In Tomasek, Michal and Muhlemann, Guido (eds.), Interpretation of Law in China: Roots and Perspectives. Prague: Karolinum Press, 163–174.Google Scholar
Li, Xiaobing. 2012. China at War: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.Google Scholar
Lin, Tingjin. 2013. The Politics of Financing Education in China. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lovett, Steve, Simmons, Lee C. and Kali, Raja. 1999. “ Guanxi versus the market: ethics and efficiency.” Journal of International Business Studies 30(2), 231–247.Google Scholar
Luo, Yadong. 2000. Guanxi and Business. New Jersey: World Scientific Publishing.Google Scholar
Luo, Yadong. 2008. “The changing Chinese culture and business behavior: the perspective of intertwinement between guanxi and corruption.” International Business Review 17, 188–193.Google Scholar
Merrilees, Bill, and Miller, Dale 1999. “Direct selling in the West and East: the relative roles of product and relationship (guanxi) drivers.” Journal of Business Research 45(3), 267–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulvenon, James. 2003. “To get rich is unprofessional: Chinese military corruption in the Jiang Era.” China Leadership Monitor 6, 21–35.Google Scholar
Mulvenon, James. 2006. “So crooked they have to screw their pants on: new trends in Chinese military corruption.” China Leadership Monitor 19, 1–8.Google Scholar
Mulvenon, James. 2015. “So crooked they have to screw their pants on: part 3. The Guo Boxiong edition.” China Leadership Monitor 48, 1–5.Google Scholar
Peng, Mike W. 2003. “Institutional transitions and strategic choices.” Academy of Management Review 28, 275–296.Google Scholar
Qi, Xiaoying. 2013. “ Guanxi, social capital theory and beyond: toward a globalized social science.” The British Journal of Sociology 64(2), 308–324.Google Scholar
Saunders, Phillip C., and Scobell, Andrew. 2015. PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schramm, Matthias, and Taube, Markus. 2004. “Private ordering of corrupt transactions: the case of the Chinese guanxi networks and their challenge by a formal legal system.” In Lambsdorff, Johann Graf, Taube, Markus and Schramm, Matthias (eds.), The New Institutional Economics of Corruption. London: Routledge, 181–197.Google Scholar
Scobell, Andrew, and Wortzel, Larry M.. 2005. Chinese National Security Decision Making under Stress. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College.Google Scholar
Shieh, Shawn. 2005. “The rise of collective corruption in China: the Xiamen smuggling case.” Journal of Contemporary China 14(42), 67–91.Google Scholar
Sykes, Gresham, and Matza, David. 1957. “Techniques of neutralization: a theory of delinquency.” American Sociological Review 22, 664–670.Google Scholar
Tsang, Eric W.K. 1998. “Can guanxi be a source of sustained competitive advantage for doing business in China?” The Academy of Management Executive 12(2), 64–73.Google Scholar
Wang, Cheng Lu. 2007. “ Guanxi vs. relationship marketing: exploring underlying differences.” Industrial Marketing Management 36, 81–86.Google Scholar
Wang, Chunyu, Ye, Jingzhong and Franco, Jennifer C.. 2014. “Local state corporatism or neo-guanxilism? Observations from the county level of government in China.” Journal of Contemporary China 23, 498–515.Google Scholar
Wang, Peng. 2013. “The rise of the Red Mafia in China: a case study of organized crime and corruption in Chongqing.” Trends in Organized Crime 16(1), 49–73.Google Scholar
Wang, Peng. 2014. “Extra-legal protection in China: how guanxi distorts China's legal system and facilitates the rise of unlawful protectors.” British Journal of Criminology 54(5), 809–830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Peng. 2016. “Organized crime and illegal gambling: how do illegal gambling enterprises respond to the challenges posed by their illegality in China?” Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 49(2), 258–280.Google Scholar
Wu, Wei-ping, and Leung, Alicia. 2005. “Does a micro-macro link exist between managerial value of reciprocity, social capital and firm performance? The case of SMEs in China.” Asia Pacific Journal of Management 22(4), 445–463.Google Scholar
Xin, Katherine Ki, and Pearce, John L.. 1996. “ Guanxi: connections as substitutes for formal institutional support.” Academy of Management Journal 39(6), 1641–58.Google Scholar
Yang, Mayfair Mei-hui. 1994. Gifts, Favors, and Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Yu, Keping. 2010. Democracy and the Rule of Law in China. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Zeng, Qingjie. 2015. “Democratic procedures in the CCP's cadre selection process: implementation and consequences.” The China Quarterly 225, 1–27.Google Scholar
Zhan, Jing Vivian. 2012. “Filling the gap of formal institutions: the effects of guanxi network on corruption in reform-era China.” Crime, Law and Social Change 58, 93–109.Google Scholar
Zuo, Cai (Vera). 2015. “Promoting city leaders: the structure of political incentives in China.” The China Quarterly 224, 955–984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar