Wu Chonghao: Regulating Government Ethics – An Underused Weapon in China’s Anti-Corruption CampaignCarolin Kautz

ASIEN – Nr. 146 (2018) pp. 142–44

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 314 S., 69,99 GBP

In his recent publication “Regulating Government Ethics – An Underused Weapon in China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign”, Wu Chonghao participates in the discussion of a current topic, that is the anti-corruption efforts in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Wu analyses this topic from an angle that has so far not played a role in the analysis of anticorruption in China. He does not look at criminal or campaign-style enforcement of anticorruption, but instead focuses on the regulation of government ethics. Following common definitions of regulation, he establishes a four-dimensional framework based on the questions “who regulates”, “how to regulate”, “whom to regulate” and “what to regulate” (pp. 16f.). His focus regarding these question is on “public bodies (including government bodies) with primary official authority in regulating government ethics “ (p. 17) that are regulating government bodies and government officials through the use of legally binding methods. These are supposed to regulate government ethics, which “mainly involves misconduct or malpractice not serious enough to constitute criminal corruption.” (p. 20). He thus explicitly excludes criminal behaviour from his analysis and instead mainly focuses on four dimensions of government ethics that are conflicts of interest, appearance of corruption, financial disclosure and outside employment/ activities (p. 21)…