Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Those of us who are interested in China have been fascinated by the campaign against corruption that has unfolded over the past year and more. This campaign has gone on longer and cut deeper by far than any similar campaign in the reform era.

But of course, what has grabbed people's attention is the issue of reform and how China can prevent such corruption in the future.

More broadly, the subject of corruption is part of the broader topic of building good governance.

Building good governance is important for all countries. Governance is about creating fairer and more just societies, improving the life chances of citizens, reducing crime and corruption, providing citizens with public goods and services and so forth.

Beyond such abstract notions of a better life, however, there is a very practical reason to pursue good governance; it correlates very strongly with economic growth and sustainable development.

Building a legal system is critical for building good governance. At some point, the campaign must give way to institutions. What type of institutions can really "put power in a cage?"

It seems that the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee will begin the process of building new institutions. Hopefully new institutions will be rolled out that will make it so corruption cannot occur.

Building institutions is difficult. There has been much talk over the years about institutionalization in China, and there has been much progress.

But as we can see from the corruption that has been exposed, there is a long way to go. Can laws be put into place that can really tackle the issue of corruption?

I think the answer to this question is bound up with the answer to another question, namely the transition from a "revolutionary party" to a "ruling party."

There was much discussion about this subject some years ago, but perhaps the requisites of being a ruling party need to be further explored.

Being a ruling party does not just mean being in power; it means that there must be bureaucratic systems that are bound by law.