Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Japan, Korea, the Philippines, China: four syndromes of corruption

  • Published:
Crime, Law and Social Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Both generalizations about “Asian corruption”, and claims about greater or lesser amounts of corruption, tend to overlook the many variations existing among and within Asian societies, and among the corruption problems they experience. I suggest that deeper influences in social, political and economic development, and contrasting institutional settings, create four distinctive syndromes of corruption, each with its own set of implications for relationships between wealth and power. Japan is an example of “influence markets” in which private interests buy or rent influence over relatively specific policy outcomes within a strong state. Korea is a case of “elite cartels”, in which collusion and corrupt incentives enable several kinds of elites to cooperate in governing, enriching themselves, and resisting rising political competition. The Philippines is marked by “oligarchs and clans”, with powerful families and their entourages plundering a weak state in a climate of uncertainty and insecurity. China experiences “official mogul” corruption, in which officials abuse state power with impunity, although that process is becoming increasingly fragmented. The four syndromes may help us understand why corruption and rapid growth have coexisted in some, but not all, Asian states for long periods of time, and may also help us understand why some of those states will adapt to new global realities only with some difficulty. They also show how “consensus”-driven reforms emanating from the west may not only be ineffective, but may actually make matters worse.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. ABC News.com (2000). A big start: Trials open in china’s biggest corruption scandal. Retrieved October 9, 2003 from http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/china000913.html.

  2. Aquino, B. (1987). Politics of plunder: The Philippines under Marcos. Quezon City, Philippines: Great Books Trading.

  3. Batalla, E. C. (2000). De-institutionalizing corruption in the Philippines: Identifying strategic requirements for reinventing institutions. Philippines: Transparent accountable governance. Retrieved July 13, 2005 from http://www.tag.org.ph/references/PDFfiles/batalla.pdf.

  4. BBC News Online (1998). The corrupt comrade, 31 July. Retrieved September 10, 2007 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/143163.stm.

  5. Beck, P. M. (1998). Revitalizing Korea’s chaebol. Asian Survey, 38, 1018–1035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Blechinger, V. (1999). Changes in the handling of corruption scandals in Japan since 1994. Asian-Pacific Review, 6, 42–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Blechinger, V. (2000). Corruption through political contributions in Japan: Report on recent bribery scandals, 1996–2000. Paper presented at a conference on Bribery and Party Finance, sponsored by Transparency International, Villa La Pietra, Florence, Italy, October.

  8. Bo, Z. (2000). Economic development and corruption: Beijing beyond ‘Beijing’. Journal of Contemporary China, 9(25), 467–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Boisseau, J.-M. (1997). Gifts, networks and clienteles: Corruption in Japan as a redistributive system. In D. della Porta, & Y. Meny (Eds.) Democracy and corruption in Europe (vol. 9 (pp. 132–147). London: Pinter.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Chaikin, D. (2000). Tracking the proceeds of organized crime: The Marcos case. Presented at the Transnational Crime Conference, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, March, 9. Retrieved from September 10, 2007 http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/transnational/chaikin.html.

  11. Cheng, T.-J., & Chu, Y.-H. (2002). State-business relations in South Korea and Taiwan. In L. Whitehead (Ed.) Emerging market democracies: East Asia and Latin America (vol. 3 (pp. 31–62). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Cheng, W. (2004). An empirical study of corruption within China’s state-owned enterprises. The China Review, 4, 55–80.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Choi, E. K., & Zhou, K. X. (2001). Entrepreneurs and politics in the Chinese transitional economy: Political connections and rent-seeking. The China Review, 1, 111–135.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Christensen, R. V. (1996). Strategic imperatives of Japan’s SNTV electoral system. Comparative Political Studies, 29, 312–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. CNN.com/world (2001). Seven sentenced to die in China corruption case. Retrieved September 10, 2007 from http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/03/02/China.execute/.

  16. Coser, L. A. (1977). Masters of sociological thought: Ideas in historical and social context (2nd ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Dryer, J. T. (1994). The People’s Army: Serving whose interests? Current History, 5.

  18. Girling, J. L. S. (1997). Corruption, capitalism and democracy. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Gold, T., Guthrie, D, & Wank, D. (Eds.) (2002). Social connections in China: Institutions, culture, and the changing nature of Guanxi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  20. Goldman, M., & MacFarquhar, R. (Eds.) (1999). The paradox of China’s post-Mao reforms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  21. Gong, T. (1994). The politics of corruption in contemporary China: An analysis of policy outcomes. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Gong, T. (1997). Forms and characteristics of China’s corruption in the 1990s: Change With Continuity. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 30, 277–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Gong, T. (2002). Dangerous collusion: Corruption as a collective venture in contemporary China. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 35, 85–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Gong, T. (2006). Corruption and local governnance: The double identity of Chinese local governments in market reform. The Pacific Review, 19, 85–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Hao, Y., & Johnston, M. (1995). Reform at the crossroads: An analysis of Chinese corruption. Asian Perspective, 19(1), 117–149.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Hao, Y., & Johnston, M. (2002). Corruption and the future of economic reform in China. In A. J. Heidenheimer, & M. Johnston (Eds.) Political corruption: Concepts and contexts (Chapter 31 ((pp. 583–604)3rd ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Hawes, G. (1987). The Philippine state and the Marcos regime: The politics of export, Ithaca. NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Huntington, S. P. (1968). Political order in changing societies. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Hutchcroft, P. D. (1991). Oligarchs and cronies in the Philippine State: The politics of patrimonial plunder. World Politics, 43, 414–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Hutchcroft, P. D. (2002). The politics of privilege: Rents and corruption in Asia. In A. J. Heidenheimer, & M. Johnston (Eds.) Political corruption: Concepts and contexts (vol. 27 ((pp. 489–512)3rd ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Hutchcroft, P. D. (2003). Reflections on a reverse image: South Korea under Park Chung Hee and the Philippines Under Ferdinand Marcos. Presented at The East Asia Institute, Korea University, and the Asia Center, Harvard University, 2000, revised 2003.

  32. Iga, M., & Auerbach, M. (1977). Political corruption and social structure in Japan. Asian Survey, 17, 556–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Johnson, C. A. (1995). Japan: Who governs? The rise of the developmental state. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Johnston, M. (2002). Measuring the new corruption rankings: Implications for analysis and reform. In A. J. Heidenheimer, & M. Johnston (Eds.) Political corruption: Concepts and contexts (Chapter 44 ((pp. 865–884)3rd ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Johnston, M. (2005). Syndromes of corruption: Wealth, power, and democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Johnston, M., & Hao, Y. (1995). China’s surge of corruption. Journal of Democracy, 6, 80–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Kang, D. C. (2002). Crony capitalism: Corruption and development in South Korea and the Philippines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Kang, D. C. (2002). Bad loans to good friends: Money politics and the developmental state in Korea. International Organization, 56, 1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Khan, M. H., & Sundaram, J. K. (Eds.) (2000). Rents, rent-seeking and economic development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  40. Khanna, J. & Johnston, M. (2007). India’s middlemen: Connecting by corrupting? Crime, Law and Social Change, 48, 151–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Kim, J. (2002). Clientelism and corruption in South Korea. In S. Kotkin, & A. Sajó (Eds.) Political corruption in transition: A skeptic’s handbook (pp. 167–185). Budapest: Central European University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Kipnis, A. B. (1997). Producing Guanxi: Sentiment, self, and subculture in a North China Village. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Klopp, J. M. (2000). Pilfering the public: The problem of land grabbing in contemporary Kenya. Africa Today, 47, 7–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Ku, H. B. (2003). Moral politics in a South Chinese Village: Responsibility, reciprocity, and resistance. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Kwong, J. (1997). The political economy of corruption in China p. c1997. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Lü, X. (1999). From rank-seeking to rent-seeking: Changing administrative ethos and corruption in reform China. Crime, Law, and Social Change, 32, 347–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Lü, X. (2001). Cadres and corruption: The organizational involution of the Chinese communist party. Stanford: Stanford University Press; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  48. Manion, M. (2004). Corruption by design: Building clean government in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  49. McCoy, A. W. (1993). Rent-seeking families and the Philippine State: A history of the Lopez family. In A. W. McCoy (Ed.) An anarchy of families: State and family in the Philippines (pp. 429–536). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Montinola, G. (1999). Politicians, parties, and the persistence of weak states: Lessons from the Philippines. Development and Change, 30, 739–774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Moran, J. (1998). Corruption and NIC development: A case study of South Korea. Crime, Law and Social Change, 29, 161–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Moran, J. (1999). Patterns of corruption and development in East Asia. Third World Quarterly, 20(3), 569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Park, B.-S. (1995). Political corruption in South Korea: Concentrating on the dynamics of party politics. Asian Perspective, 19, 163–193.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Pei, M. (2002). China’s governance crisis. Foreign Affairs, 81, 96–109.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Pempel, T. J. (1998). Regime shift: Comparative dynamics of the Japanese political economy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Peng, D. R. Y. (2004). Kinship networks and entrepreneurs in China’s transitional economy. American Journal of Sociology, 109, 1045–1074.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. People’s Daily Online (2001). Corruption crackdown gathers pace. Retrieved October 9, 2003 from http://fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/200103/18/eng20010318_65274.html.

  58. People’s Daily Online (2001). Details of Xiamen smuggling case exposed. Retrieved September 10, 2007 from http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200107/25/eng20010725_75780.html.

  59. Pharr, S. (2005). Contributions, covenants, and corruption: Politicians and society in Japan. In M. Johnston (Ed.) Civil society and corruption: Mobilizing for reform (pp. 23–32). Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Pye, L. W. (1997). Money politics and transitions to democracy in East Asia. Asian Survey, 37, 213–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Riedinger, J. (1995). The Philippines in 1994: Renewed growth and contested reforms. Asian Survey, 35, 209–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Schopf, J. C. (2001). An explanation for the end of political bank robbery in the Republic of Korea. Asian Survey, 41, 693–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Scott, J. C. (1972). Comparative political corruption. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Seligmann, A. L. (1997). Japan’s new electoral system. Asian Survey, 37, 409–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Varese, F. (2001). The Russian Mafia: Private protection in a new market economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  67. Sidel, J. T. (1997). Philippine politics in town, district, and province: Bossism in Cavite and Cebu. Journal of Asian Studies, 56, 947–966.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Sidel, J. T. (2000). Capital, coercion, and crime: Bossism in the Philippines. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Steinberg, D. I. (2000). Continuing democratic reform: The unfinished symphony. In L. Diamond, & B.-K. Kim (Eds.) Consolidating democracy in South Korea (Chapter 8 (pp. 203–238). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Sun, Y. (2004). Corruption and market in contemporary China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Tat, Y. K. (1996). Corruption and its Institutional Foundations: The Experience of South Korea. IDS Bulletin, 27, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  72. Thomas, M. A. (2007). What do the worldwide governance indicators measure? Unpublished manuscript. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (revised manuscript, January).

  73. Triesman, D. (2000). The causes of corruption: A cross-national study. Journal of Public Economics, 76, 399–457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Voice of America (2000). China corruption. Retrieved from September 10, 2007 http://www.fas.org/news/china/2000/000308-prc1.htm.

  75. Wedeman, A. (1997a). Looters, rent-scrapers, and dividend-collectors: Corruption and growth in Zaire, South Korea and the Philippines. Journal of Developing Areas, 31, 457–478.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Wedeman, A. (1997b). Stealing from the farmers: Institutional corruption and the 1992 IOU crisis. China Quarterly, 152, 805–831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  77. Wong, L. (2004). Market reforms, globalization and social justice in China. Journal of Contemporary China, 13, 151–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Woo, J. E. (1991). Race to the swift: State and finance in Korean industrialization. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  79. Woo-Cumings, M. (Ed.) (1999). The developmental state. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

  80. Woodall, B. (1996). Japan under construction: Corruption, politics, and public works. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, 13346, USA

    Michael Johnston

Authors
  1. Michael Johnston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Johnston.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Johnston, M. Japan, Korea, the Philippines, China: four syndromes of corruption. Crime Law Soc Change 49, 205–223 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-007-9095-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-007-9095-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation