The Issues in Contemporary Hong Kong Policy - Research Proposal Example

In a given research proposal, the issue in contemporary Hong Kong policy was in the center of investigation. From the very appearance of “one country, two systems” approach in 1997, it turned evident that this city had faced long and hard process of democratic development under the rule of Communist China. In this case, the presented analysis aimed to represent the main stages of democratic transition in Hong Kong, mark out the conditions of Chief Executive’s work as the key indicator of city’s political independence, and sketch the discussion on the future of Hong Kong democracy, given to it for at least 50 years. Moreover, the research proposed to analyze the process of democratization with combination of both Shin and Wetzel and Inglehart methodologies in order to develop three hypotheses on Hong Kong’s democratic future. In particular, it found three variables: political institutions, international environment, and development of civil society to have influence on city’s democratization. Introduction This research proposal discusses the role of democracy in contemporary Hong Kong through the analysis of its past development, present achievements, and future perspectives. In the previous year, the news of revolution in Hong Kong evoked attention from global community to the development of democracy in this place on the border of China. In fact, contrast between territories of Hong Kong and its authoritative neighbor has long been complicating the very ability to view this city as an independent actor with political will. In addition, the long history of dependence from Britain made it possible to neglect the significance of this analysis in global perspective, since the history of Hong Kong factually starts in 1997. Although, its democratic potential still does not have wide acknowledgement in literature. In this context, scholars mostly deal with Hong Kong as a “Special Administrative Region” of Mainland China, which means that this city is only a part of the country, even though it has a certain special acknowledgement in its borders. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned protests in the city had proved the existence of self-sufficient ambitions in Hong Kong, which justifies the significance of the presented research in the context of global studies. Moreover, the choice of Hong Kong at the center of analysis aims to clarify the real state of democracy in this city in order to understand current expectations and future perspectives of its internal state. Literature Review In order to deal with above-mentioned political system in Hong Kong, it is important to conceptualize the term ‘democracy’. In this research proposal, the notion of democracy is taken from Wetzel and Inglehart’s discussion on its effectiveness. In fact, they clarify two main components of it: existence of elections as political institution and the guarantees of implementation of laws (Wetzel and Inglehart 128). In addition, the distinction between ‘democratization’ and ‘liberalization’ is crucial, because the same indicators in certain political system may lead to the outcomes of different degree. In particular, Shin explains the difference between them by the goal of “loosing restrictions and explaining individual and group rights within an authoritarian regime” for liberalization and establishing political regime based on regular elections for democratization (142). For the aim of this research, there is a need to highlight the main events in Hong Kong history resulted from the British decision to return its territory to China. In 1997, handover of Hong Kong gave the start to “one country, two systems” situation. However, before 2007 this statement was rather declarative than had factual meaning. In particular, Poon describes the period of the first Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, as “persistent loss of public confidence in his government during the greater part of his term in office” (46). In response, the protests appeared in the city in 2003. In particular, they are among historic and massive events in the history of contemporary Hong Kong. Their appearance was a result from both the failures of social security in managing city’s economic problems (Chan) and inability to define the direction of “high politics,” or foreign affairs and national issues (Poon 107). As Cheng describes this manifestation of public demands, “After the July 1 march, the recovery was for real because nearly all Hong Kong people genuinely wanted the recovery to happen and joyfully consume to make it happen” (86). In other words, the first years of Hong Kong handover revealed the high level of public activism in the destiny of democracy in this city. In this situation, the allowance of holding elections to choose Chief Executive in 2007 appears to be the logical outcome of this process. In fact, this change is a turning point in the democratization of Hong Kong, as in the next years even more alterations have become possible. Among them, political reform of broken promise in 2012 deserves mentioning in the context of this analysis. On the one hand, Hui positively describes the potential of provided opportunity to elect more than a half of Legislative Council members in 2012. On another hand, the price of this reform was in making elections of Chief Executive again only partially direct, which obviously meant strengthening the positions of central government. Resulting from these maneuvers, Leung Chun-ying gained the position of current Chief Executive. Furthermore, scholars pay special attention to the relations of Hong Kong’s local government to the central government situated in China. In this context, Fiss acknowledges the special type of local governing for Hong Kong comparing to the other territories in China, as it allows this city to have three branches of power, Chief Executive, and other unique attributes commonly associated with democracy. However, critical evaluation also finds its place in literature. On the analysis of legislative branch, scholars discuss the limits of its representativeness (Fiss) and the emergence of “dual loyalty dilemma” (Poon) for Chief Executive in Special Administrative Region. In general, recent news from Hong Kong demonstrate the frequent manifestations of public dissatisfaction with their leaders, which indicates of the necessity to investigate these political institutions in more detail. Finally, the chosen literature participates the discussion on 50-year perspective of “one country, two systems” situation. In short, it seems like a guarantee for Hong Kong that it will live under umbrella of Chinese sovereignty but create its own political system for a period of 50 years. In other words, both democratic Britain and communist China formally defend the right of Hong Kong to develop its own democracy. Nevertheless, Umbrella Movement revealed that Hong Kong has to protect city’s further democratization by itself. As the key demand of the street protest in 2014, universal suffrage is the claim for the new Chief Executive elections (Ong). Even though people witness the highest level of freedom in Hong Kong in contrast to all the other Chinese territories, this freedom is not that clear and stable in the reality as it seems on the paper. Methodology For this analysis, it is crucial to decide the methodology in terms of democratization conceptualization and democratic development in Hong Kong. In general, theoretical approach of estimating the third wave of democratization fits the purpose of the presented approach. In fact, it provides the tool to investigate the appearance of perquisites for democratic change, the role of certain elements of political regime, and the expected outcomes of this process. In general, the third wave of democratization is a global tendency started in 1974 in Portugal and expanded all over the world. In this context, the great number of cases and the diversified backgrounds caused certain confusion in scholars, as they have no compromise on the number of preconditions and significance of certain factors to evoke democratic shift. However, Shin proposes to investigate “the most probable causes of the current wave” (150), by meaning sets of changes both within and without a country. In other words, the analysis of democratization is the result both domestic and regional tendencies. On the domestic factors, Shin proposes to investigate the decline of authoritative rule and empowerment of civil society; on regional influence, he discusses the role of international ‘snowballing’ and the impact of international organizations on the success of democratization (151-153). In addition, Wetzel and Inglehart stress on the both capability and willingness of ordinary people to struggle for democratic institutions as the necessary condition for democracy to appear (136). Therefore, the stating of hypotheses in this research proposal on Hong Kong issue is based on these three variables. Expected outcomes Based on the presented attitudes on Hong Kong in literature and the chosen methodology, the main hypotheses in this research proposal touches the importance of both domestic and international indicators in the development of true democracy in the city and its sustainability in the context of China authority. Hypothesis 1: If not to guarantee independence of the position of Chief Executive, the level of democracy in Hong Kong will decline. In this case, not only the exact activity of Chief Executives but also the involvement of other forces in competing for this position gain attention. On the investigation of the nature of transition in Hong Kong, the precise attention to the role and potential of established political institutes is needed. In fact, it determines whether we deal with liberalization or democratization in the city. As the situation in Hong Kong shows, presence of opposition to both the central government and current Chief Executive fits the notion of democratization (by meaning support to independent political institutions). In addition, Hong Kong has a constitutional document, the Basic Law, in order to sustain democracy. At the same time, certain facts on the leadership behavior signalize of problems in this area. With the recent protests, Li Ka-shing, the most powerful business tycoon, moved the registration of his company from Hong Kong due to the unclear economic situation in the country (Cough). In this context, not only the presence of opposition but also its behavior in crises demonstrates the pace of democratization in Hong Kong’s society. Hypothesis 2: The destiny of Hong Kong democratization is highly dependent on the authority of Chinese central government. Hong Kong as the young international actor is expected to be highly dependent on the situation in Asian region. In democratization conditions, the direct involvement of Chinese government is dangerous for current political regime. In this context, present appearance of “dual accountability” of Hong Kong Chief Executives serves as a crucial limitation of democratization potential in the city. As Hong Kong protests have shown, silent reaction of current Chief Executive on the domestic problems is the result of “behind-the-scenes” Chinese influence (Hui). Although, support from democratic actors in international environment is also regional factor, but it leads to opposite consequences. In particular, the impact of not only Chinese factor is evident with the consequences of Asian crisis on Hong Kong economy (Cheng 6). In other words, current fate of democratization in Hong Kong rather depends on regional balance of powers than on domestic democratic intentions. Hypothesis 3: The strengthening of civil society attributes leads to the acceleration of democratic transition in Hong Kong. For this hypothesis, the recent events of Hong Kong street protests are in the center of analysis. In the circumstances when the city has certain elements of democratic governing, the intentions of ordinary city dwellers demonstrate whether democratic values are incorporated in political culture. In this light, Fiss highlights frequent street protests, media variety, and party pluralism among preciously gained and already established achievements of Hong Kong’s society. Nevertheless. 79-day-long Umbrella Movement has shown people in the city seek for more freedom of choice than it is proclaimed. Current Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, as the person favorable to central government under the previous indirect election procedure, by choosing silent reaction (Bush) increases the necessity of public incentives in terms of democratic development. Works Cited: Buch, Richard C. ‘Hong Kong: Examining the Impact of the “Umbrella Movement”’. Brookings, 3 December 2014. Web. Chan, Chak Kwan. Social Security Policy in Hong Kong: From British Colony to China’s Special Administrative Region. Maryland: Lexicon Books, 2011. Print. Cheng, Joseph Y.S., ed. The July 1 Protest Rally: Interpreting a Historic Event. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong, 2005. Print. Cough, Neil. ‘Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing to overhaul corporate empire’ Dealbook, 9 January 2015. Web. Fiss, Owen F. ‘Hong Kong democracy’. Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 36 (1998): 493-500. Web. Hui, Sylvia. ‘Hong Kong takes cautious steps towards full democracy’. Asia Programme Paper. Chatham House, 2011. Web. Ong, Larry. ‘What Xi Jinping really means by “one country, two systems.” Analysis of Hong Kong in the light of Beijing’s factional politics’. Asia and China Perspectives, 9-22 January 2015. Web. Poon, Kit. The Political Future of Hong Kong: Democracy within Communist China. Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2008. Print. Shin, Doh Chull. ‘On the third wave of democratization: A synthesis and evaluation of recent theory and research’. World Politics 47.01 (1994): 135-170. Print. Wetzel, Christian and Ronald Inglehart. ‘The role of ordinary people in democratization’ Journal of Democracy, 19.1 (2008): 126-140. Print. Read More