Wielding the sword: President Xi’s new anti-corruption campaign

A state achieves legitimacy through multiple sources, one of which is the effectiveness of its governance. Generations of scholars since Hobbes have identified the maintenance of peace and order as core functions of a legitimate state. In the modern world, economic prosperity, social stability and effective control of corruption often provide adequate compensation for a deficit of democracy. Corruption closely correlates with legitimacy. While a perceived pervasive, endemic corruption undermines the legitimacy of a regime, a successful anti-corruption campaign can allow a regime to recover from a crisis of legitimacy (Gilley 2009; Seligson and Booth 2009). This is the rationale behind the periodical campaigns against corruption that have been conducted by the Chinese Communist Party (‘Party’ or ‘CCP’) (Manion 2004; Wedeman 2012). Political leaders in China have found it expedient to use anti-corruption campaigns to remove their political foes, to rein in the bureaucracy and to restore public confidence in their ability to rule. Through anti-corruption campaigns, emerging political leaders consolidate their political power, secure loyalty from political factions and regional political forces, and enhance their legitimacy in the eyes of the general public. In an authoritarian state that experiences a high level of corruption, an anti-corruption campaign is a delicate political battle that addresses two significant concerns. The first concern is to orchestrate the campaign so that it is regime-reinforcing instead of regime-undermining. To remain credible, the regime must demonstrate its willingness and capacity to punish corrupt officials at the highest levels.preprin

The European Union as a model of international cooperation in science, technology and sustainable development

This article presents European Union (EU) research policy as a stable, long-term form of organising international science and technology (S&T) co-operation, and evaluates the prospects for transposing this model to co-operation with non-European countries in the context of sustainable development (SD). The European approach combines scientific objectives with common political, social, economic and environmental aims through a form of partnership based on dynamism, collective decision-making and the distribution of research responsibility. It is argued that the prevailing character of co-operation between Europe and developing countries (DCs), which stresses the transfer of resources, does not adequately recognise the knowledge, capacity for innovation and valuable socio-cultural assets of partners within the developing world. The common objective of sustainable development in an increasingly interdependent world creates opportunities for extending aspects of the European model of S&T co-operation to wider partnerships to build scientific capacity, political stability, economic prosperity and environmental quality in a way that has been demonstrably successful within the European Union itself