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.

Indeed, bureaucratic structures and rule by law go very much together. What bureaucracy and law provide is a sense of predictability and accountability. Predictability is the opposite of the arbitrary use of power, and accountability means that officials who use power arbitrarily will be held to account for their actions. So "ruling the country through law" must extend beyond passing rules and regulations guiding the behavior of cadres; it must extend to routinizing governance of the whole country. Then one might say that the CPC has completed the transition to a ruling party.

There remains the issue of exposing corruption. The 18th National Congress of the CPC announced that in cases of corruption the higher level Discipline Inspection Commission would take the lead, removing investigations from the level at which corruption is suspected.

But experts on governance point to the importance of public participation and the mass media, rather than just higher authorities. Public participation in governance through public hearings, and other means, as well as a vigorous mass media are important for enforcing accountability, which is vital for the rule of law. Finally, if rule of law is to be effective, it must bind both the state and society.

In ancient China, there was a school of thought known as the legalists. The legalists were not about building the rule of law, despite the closeness of the terms, but about controlling society. Ruling parties don't "control" societies, they administer them.

One needs rule of law to build the bureaucracies that administer societies, and one needs public participation and accountability to keep bureaucracies running within the scope of the law.

One hopes that the fourth plenum will push China down this road, strengthen the rule of law, and strengthen governance in China.

The author is a professor of international relations and political science at Boston University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn