“Democracy? Dictatorship!”Anti-Corruption, Rule of Law, Privacy Protection, and “Credible China”: Internet and Everyday Behavior

This chapter explores the evolution and perceptions of China’s governance strategies, focusing on the rule of law, anti-corruption campaigns, and social credit systems. Rooted in historical experiences of instability, inequality, and corruption, China’s recent efforts to promote legal reform and anti-corruption have received domestic support as well as Western scrutiny. Since the 2010s, the Xi administration’s intensified anti-corruption measures that have tackled widespread bribery and financial misconduct resulted in improved general trust and business efficiency. Parallel to these efforts, China’s social credit systems have been developed as plural, experimental, localized tools aimed at combating corruption, fostering social responsibility, and increasing trust in both government and corporations. Despite Western criticism, often portraying the system as authoritarian, China’s approach is more transparent and publicly debated than credit score systems in the West. The paper contrasts these developments with Western behavioral nudging practices, which, while not publicly discussed, influence consumer choices and social norms through private tech corporations. The chapter thus ultimately challenges the simplistic dichotomy between China and West, suggesting that both systems share the common goal of using technology and data to manage societal behavior, but differ in their goals, methods of implementation, and public engagement.