Citizen Policing in Chinese Societies: A Preliminary Comparative Study on the Models of Citizens’ Participation in Policing in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Abstract

Abstract This article aims to conduct a preliminary comparative study on different models of citizens’ participation in Chinese societies. In examining citizen policing in Chinese societies, this article covers the major geographical locations in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. By using thematic analysis, this article has identified three main themes to assess volunteer policing in three Chinese societies, which all connect to the concepts of institutions and social capital: institutional development, institutional impact, and Guanxi as a common socio-cultural challenge. The role of citizens in law enforcement work is contextualized in the different forms of governments in these three societies. In China, there is a lack of legislature at the central level to regulate auxiliary police forces. The local governments developed various forms of auxiliary police systems monitored by public security authorities. Hong Kong, due to its former status as a British colony, has developed a well-established model of the modern auxiliary police system. In Taiwan, the auxiliary police system was influenced by both Chinese institutional development and the Japanese colony; however, a lack of detailed legislature at the local level is found, which has impacted the implementation of volunteer policing. Despite the difference, three of them all have faced the common challenges affected by Guanxi, which is the rudimentary dynamic in personalized social networks of power and is a crucial system of beliefs in Chinese culture. The author concludes that the institutional factors and Guanxi are important determinants of successful implementation of volunteer policing in three Chinese societies.