This book offers a novel and parsimonious framework to help understand Hong Kong’s lengthy democratic transition by analyzing the electoral dynamics of the city’s competitive authoritarian political system, where pro-Beijing and pro-democracy parties have struggled to keep each other in check. The author demonstrates how a relatively liberal media environment has shaped the electoral incentives of the opposition and the pro-establishment elite differently, which has helped the latter improve its basis of electoral support. The political explanation the book puts forward seeks to shed new light on why many autocracies are interested in regularly holding elections that are considered somewhat competitive. This book will be of great interest not only to specialists in comparative studies of democratization, but also to all those concerned with Hong Kong’s democratic transition.

This volume analyzes the political development in Hong Kong in chronological order from the Sino-British negotiations till today. It focuses on the rule of the British administration before 1997; the Chinese leadership's policy towards Hong Kong; the changing attitudes and values of the Hong Kong people; the evolution of the pro-democracy movement in the territory; and the international environment affecting the Hong Kong situation.The author engages in detailed studies of the important events such as the Sino-British negotiations (1982-84), the impact of the Tiananmen Incident (1989), the protests against the Article 23 legislation (2003), and the Occupation Campaign (2014). At the same time, the author examines in depth the emergence and development of political parties in the territory; the strategies and tactics of the pro-Beijing united front; the results of important elections; the trends of public opinion as reflected by polls; and the development of civil society and its relationship with the political parties.As a key activist in the peaceful pro-democracy movement throughout the decades, the author has a deep insider's understanding of Hong Kong's political development which is presented and analyzed in the framework of academic analysis. Care has been taken to provide detailed sources which include many interviews of important parties.Related Link(s)

This book reviews the political development of Hong Kong before and after 1997, in particular the evolution of state-society relations in the last two decades, to analyze the slow development of democracy and governance in Hong Kong after 1997. This book is a most comprehensive analysis of the multi-faceted changes in Hong Kong in the last 20 years. The scope of changes analyzed included state functions and institutions, political changes such as party development and development of the Legislative Council, and social changes such as social movements, civil liberties, etc. It helps the reader understand the crisis of governance of Hong Kong after 1997, and the difficulty of democratic development in Hong Kong over the years. The book covers: changing state institutions in Hong Kong in the last few decades; party development in Hong Kong; the changing role and function of the legislature in Hong Kong; the evolution of social movement and movement organizational forms; media freedom, civil liberties, and the role of civil society; and theoretical discussions concerning governance problems and state-society relations in Hong Kong. Special emphasis is placed on how these changes brought about a new state-society relation, which in turn brought governance difficulties after 1997.

A close-up look at the struggle for democracy in Hong Kong. Hong Kong in the Shadow of China is a reflection on the recent political turmoil in Hong Kong during which the Chinese government insisted on gradual movement toward electoral democracy and hundreds of thousands of protesters occupied major thoroughfares to push for full democracy now. Fueling this struggle is deep public resentment over growing inequality and how the political system—established by China and dominated by the local business community—reinforces the divide been those who have profited immensely and those who struggle for basics such as housing. Richard Bush, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center on East Asia Policy Studies, takes us inside the demonstrations and the demands of the demonstrators and then pulls back to critically explore what Hong Kong and China must do to ensure both economic competitiveness and good governance and the implications of Hong Kong developments for United States policy.

Li Pang-Kwong offers a new perspective on the analysis of the transitional Hong Kong politics. Adopting the cleavage approach, the author examines both the voters choice and the effectiveness of existing institutional arrangements in solving political conflicts.

Hong Kong's Legislative Council Elections have been riddled with difficulties. The first, partial elections introduced in 1991 were tainted by the traumatic memories of the events of June 4, 1989. The elections of 1995 bore the marks of the bitter Sino-British controversies over Hong Kong's political reforms. As a result of the derailed "through train," the first general election after the change of sovereignty to China in 1997 produced a two-year successor to the Provisional Legislative Council, which in turn was troubled by the Asian Financial Crisis. In light of this, the elections held in September 2000 offered Hong Kong a new lease on life. A full, four-year term legislature was thus elected under conditions that were relatively free from the issues that characterized 1997: uncertainties over the political future of Hong Kong, the attendant anxieties of the Hong Kong people, and the tortuous struggle over reform initiatives among the political powers. This book draws on a wide range of local and overseas expertise to provide an in-depth study of the various aspects of the 2000 Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong. These aspects include: the basic conditions under which the elections took place, the role of labor, the District Councilors and media reporting, the decisive effect of the proportional representation system, factionalism in the Democratic Party, voting propensity, and the issues of identity, campaign finance, democratization, and the degree of political participation.

Bringing together a team of cutting-edge researchers based in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific countries, this book focuses on the tug of war between China’s influence and forces of resistance in Hong Kong, Taiwan and selected countries in its surrounding jurisdictions. China’s influence has met growing defiance from citizens in Hong Kong and Taiwan who fear the extinction of their valued local identities. However, the book shows that resistance to China’s influence is a global phenomenon, varying in motivation and intensity from region to region and country to country depending on the forms of China’s influence and the balances of forces in each society. The book also advances a concentric center-periphery framework for comparing different forms of extra-jurisdictional Chinese influence mechanisms, ranging from economic, military and diplomatic influences to united front operations. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative politics, international relations, geopolitics, Chinese politics, Hong Kong-China relations, Taiwan and Asian politics.