Abstract:
Benjamin van Rooij is a lecturer at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law Governance and
Development, Leiden University of the Netherlands. Abstract: In the last two decades, China organized political campaigns to
fight corruption. Such campaigns led to an increased prosecution of high-profile
cases involving high-level officials. Perceived corruption in China, however, has not
decreased as a result, because the campaigns failed to address widespread lower-level
incidents. China's political campaigns against corruption-the politico-legal
campaigns-are an example of the use of political methods to enhance the legal
system. China has organized several politico-legal campaigns to promote public
awareness of legal issues and combat crimes, including illegal drug trade, copyright
infringements, and environmental violations. The Chinese politico-legal campaigns
show that China needs its effective laws to support government policies. A
comparative analysis shows that there is a similar need for effective laws in the
United States, especially in times of crises. Such effective laws usually come at the
cost of sacrificing the formal-rational legal limits on governmental actions. Now that
China is trying to establish the rule of law and the U.S. still faces crises related to
drugs, crime, and terrorism, both countries face similar challenges in balancing their
effective laws with the rule of law principle, and may learn from each other's
experience.
