Book Review on The Political Economy of Corruption in China

This book examines the numerous aspects and dimensions of corruption which included reasons for the rise of corruption, the strategies involved, the monetary value, the kinds of good exchanged and the incidence in China since 1949. According to the author Julia Kwong, the reasons why corruption was so prominent since then were due to several factors- lack of resources, a high concentration of power which led to abuse of power by the state-officials at every level (the exchange of power for personal benefits), and the absence of an institutionalized criminal justice system. She has suggested that there was a relationship between corruption and the political economy, how the ideology and organizational structures under the socialism in china can at once restrain and encourage corruption. She has also explored how the corruption has gone through drastic change between 1949 to 1989 coincided with the change of socialism to the introduction of limited forms of market economy. Under the Clas...