Institutional Legacy, Public Opinion, and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong

This paper leverages a unique setting in Hong Kong to examine how a specialized anti-corruption agency has obtained popular support by being responsive to popular demands for sanctioning corruption over the years. Utilizing an original dataset of the enforcement activities of the agency from 1974 to 2019 and rarely-used archival public opinion surveys, we examine how the agency relies on and responds to public opinions in sustaining its institutional independence against Hong Kong’s shifting political-economic environment.