The Chiang Kai-shek regime and state crime in China and Taiwan, 1927--1975

In April, 1927, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek established the Nationalist regime in Nanking. This act appeared to end the warlord period of China which, since President Yuan Shi-kai died in 1916, had been divided by provincial warlords. But, as a matter of fact, the Kuomintang state remained factionalized, weak, and unstable because a certain portion of China was still controlled by regional militarists and the Chinese communists. Facing such a disunited political situation, the Kuomintang state managers resorted to various types of organized crime to maintain their rulership.; The purpose of this dissertation is to explain the variations of the Chiang government's use of state crime over time. The following topics are covered: (1) Theories of state criminality: Contemporary criminologists have constructed several theoretical and conceptual frameworks to explain the underlying cause(s) of government crime. I summarize and compare three of these theories (conflict, structural contradictions, and political climate) to see if they are appropriate to apply to the Kuomintang case. (2)  The patron-client relationship between the KMT state and organized crime syndicates : Some researchers and investigative reporters have noted that state managers in the West sometimes will hire super gangs or organized crime enterprises to kill or intimidate some individuals or groups. The second goal of this dissertation is to explore the extent to which Qing Bang (the Green Gang) and Hong Men (the Red Society) got involved in the “killing business” of the Chiang regime. (3)  Categories of the KMT state-connected crime: This section focuses on three kinds of crime which, during the time interval of 1927 to 1975, had been carried out by the KMT agents. They were political assassinations, massacres, and political imprisonment.; Research methods. Analyzing state criminality usually is a very difficult task because it is not easy to get the necessary data to support or refute modern theories of government crime. To handle this problem in a way that can be accepted by professionals, I rely chiefly on historical documents to support my argument.; Findings. Based on extant historical data, this dissertation shows that current theories of state crime only partially explain the incidents of the Nationalist regime-connected crime. With this in mind, I propose to incorporate the variables of collective moral neutralization and group-thinking into mainstream theories of state crime.