Connections are Not Always Corruption: Vertical Ties and Civic Participation in Rural China

MIT's Lily Tsai will lecture at Harvard University.

Having “connections” to government officials is typically equated with the ability to pursue one’s interests through informal, and often illicit, channels.   If someone mentions that they “know someone” who works in government, we often assume that they have the kind of informal access to power and resources that, in the extreme, fall in the realm of cronyism, clientelism, and corruption.  This paper argues, however, that our current understanding of vertical ties between citizens and officials may be too simplistic.  Instead, vertical ties to government officials can be a valuable resource for civic participation concerned with public issues as well as for clientelistic activity motivated by particularistic concerns.  Particularly in transitional systems, vertical ties to government officials can provide political information and support that helps to overcome the risks and uncertainties of voicing one’s opinions in contexts where democratic institutions are unstable and the right to participate is insecure.  This paper draws on evidence from survey data on villagers in China to show that individuals who have vertical ties with higher-level officials are (1) just as likely as or more than individuals without these ties to express civic attitudes and support for democratic reforms and (2) more likely than individuals without these ties to participate in ways that make their concerns known to the government.

Lily L. Tsai is an Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT. Her research focuses on issues of accountability, governance, and political participation in developing countries with a particular emphasis on Chinese politics. Her book, Accountability Without Democracy: Solidary Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China, was published in Cambridge University's Studies on Comparative Politics and received the 2007-08 Dogan Award from the Society of Comparative Research for the best book published in the field of comparative research. Tsai has also published articles in The American Political Science Review, Studies in Comparative International Development, The China Quarterly, and The China Journal. Tsai is a graduate of Stanford University, where she graduated with honors and distinction in English literature and international relations. She received a M.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University in 2004. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Fulbright program and the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.