How Politics ‘Messed up With’ Institutionalization: A Case Study of the Investigation into the Death of Li Wenliang during the Initial Months of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

This research offers a timely examination of the functioning of China’s National Supervisory Commission (NSC) in Dr. Li Wenliang’s case. Based on the normative analysis and empirical study, this research identifies two flaws of the NSC preset by particular features of a Leninist state, which make it vulnerable to politicization in the initiation and the course of this investigation (i) Overreliance on certain factional power distribution;(ii) Twofold identity as an anti-corruption agency and a party disciplinarian concurrently. By challenging both the institutionalization and deinstitutionalization arguments with a critical case, this research advances new theoretical knowledge on the self-defeating mechanisms compromising institutionalization in the Leninist regime and highlights the significance of differentiating subtypes of authoritarianism in the comparative study of institutionalization. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.