SINGAPORE: A ROLE MODEL FOR CHINA IN CREATING A CORRUPT-FREE GOVERNMENT

Abstract

This thesis seeks to investigate China’s challenges in clamping down on the pervasive corruption that has longed plagued the Chinese Communist Party authoritarianism. The issue is so severe that it promoted Xi to declare as corruption as the crisis that will bring about the downfall of the party. It also compels the CCP to use a successfully corrupt-free state as a role model for guidance. By using Singapore as a reference, this thesis will identify the aspects of China’s anticorruption efforts that withhold the overall movement from being effective. It will do so by comparing the regime methods, effectiveness of the anticorruption agencies in both states and the structural constraints that impede the cleansing of the political system. This thesis ultimately argues that corruption remains proliferated in China because she does not have an effective anticorruption mechanism that uses efficacious methods to attack corruption, that is embarked upon by effective institutions and that can be consistently executed implemented across all localized political regions. Since corruption is so dangerous to the Chinese leadership, it is essential to learn from Singapore’s success, compare their experience to China’s and highlight the components that prevent China from creating a clean government.