Extra-legal protection in China: How guanxi distorts China’s legal system and facilitates the rise of unlawful protectors

• In Event: International and Comparative Perspectives on Political Corruption, Violence and Genocide

Abstract

This paper incorporates the concept of guanxi—a Chinese variant of personal connections, networks or social capital—into the discussions of police corruption and the rise of extra-legal protectors. Using published materials and fieldwork data collected from two Chinese cities (Chongqing and Qufu), it demonstrates how guanxi distorts China’s legal system by facilitating the buying and selling of public offices and promoting the formation of guanxi networks between locally-based criminals and government officials. China’s weak legal framework encourages individuals and entrepreneurs to employ guanxi networks to obtain private protection from alternative suppliers (e.g. corrupt government officials and street gangsters) in order to protect private property rights, facilitate transactions, and deal with government extortion.

Author

• Peng Wang, King's College London