Institutional Legacy, Public Opinion, and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong

• In Event: Corruption

Abstract

Hong Kong inherited a set of liberal institutions from the colonial British government, notably an independent judiciary and a rule of law system. This paper examines the determinants of the resilience of one signature institutional heritage that is still well-functioning in Hong Kong: the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). We argue that the ability of the ICAC to safeguard the integrity of governance and the rule of law in Hong Kong derives from its strong public opinion support, as the agency embodies an institutional memory of impartiality, trust, and professionalism. The unique popular support for the ICAC empowers the agency to conduct robust enforcement actions, especially when political interference from and economic dependence on mainland China is strong. We construct an original database of the enforcement activities of the ICAC and utilize rarely-used, archival public opinion survey data to test our theories. We find evidence that the power of the ICAC to investigate and prosecute corruption offences depends on two countervailing forces: Hong Kong citizens’ perceptions of the legitimacy of the ICAC to carry out its duties and the intensity of political and economic ties between Hong Kong and mainland China. This paper engages with the literature on judicial politics and post-communist institutions by exploiting the unique setting of Hong Kong where popular consent on the power and legitimacy of judicial institutions is strong than that for other government branches. We show that popular will may sustain the functioning of a colonial heritage institution under considerable communist influence.

Authors

• Jing Xu

• Jian Xu, Emory University