Clientilism, The Principal-Agent-Client Model or Beyond?

This article examines the mishu/shouzhang relationship in Chinese government as linking social institutions through which corruption often takes place in the context of the comparative politics literature on patron-clientilism and the principal-agent-client model. We argue that understanding mishu/shouzhang relationship helps us explain corruption and other outcomes better than patron-client concepts whould do. We also argue that the assumptions underlying the P-A-C model do not hold true in China. Mishu/shouzhang relationships are distinctively "Chinese," not just in sense of where they are found but in their origins, internal dynamics and significance. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]