Eliza W. Y. Lee

The Renegotiation of the Social Pact in Hong Kong: Economic Globalisation, Socio-economic Change, and Local Politics

This article discusses the politics of social policy development in Hong Kong following the Asian financial crisis. It examines the cause, mode and political significance of social policy reform in an Asian late industrialiser that has been experiencing the twin pressures of economic globalisation and socio-economic change. Financial austerity has prompted the state to adopt social policy reforms through re-commodification and cost containment, resulting in the retrenchment of the residual welfare state. The states policy choices are structured by local politics, including the state of political development and the path dependence nature of policy change. The article questions the effectiveness of the social authoritarian approaches adopted by the state in attempting to renegotiate the social pact with its citizens, and contends that progressive development in social policy is inevitably bound to democratisation.

The New Public Management reform of state-funded social service nonprofit organizations and the changing politics of welfare in Hong Kong

What are the political impact and significance of New Public Management (NPM) reform on social service nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in Hong Kong? Social service NPOs have a long history as a significant part of Hong Kong’s ‘welfare mix’, not only in their role as state agents in the provision of service, but also because of their political and societal roles in affecting social policy making during the colonial era. The exercise of such agencies under an authoritarian setting was made possible through a governance regime historically formed under the peculiar situation of the old politics of welfare. The NPM reform and the associated governance regime change is a significant part of the new politics of welfare that has arisen with the dissolution of the old social pact. It facilitates the transition of the governance regime from strategic partnership to executive dominance, which maximizes the flexibility of the state in containing social spending and maneuvering the new distributive politics arising from the increasing societal demand for social care. Points for practitioners The NPM reform of social service NPOs is closely tied to the change in the welfare system and has significant impact on the environment within which these NPOs operate. The impact and significance of reform is also affected by the characteristics of the political system and the preexisting relationship between the state and the nonprofit sector. Social service NPOs assume multiple roles as state agents, political agents, and societal agents. In Hong Kong, NPM reform unfavorably affects the space for NPOs to exercise their societal agency. The fierce competition for resources also stifles the development of newer organizations.

The Politics of Welfare Developmentalism in Hong Kong

As an Asian late industrializer, Hong Kong has shared many common characteristics with its counterparts in their welfare system, such as low government spending on welfare, emphasis on self-reliance and the family as informal carers, ideological rejection of welfare as a matter of social right and the primacy given to economic development. The inadequacy of the Asian welfare model was obscured by sustained economic growth, which provided for full employment and rising real wages. In recent years, Asian welfare regimes have confronted a similar set of pressures arising from demographic changes and rising social expectations, with the Asian Financial Crisis representing an unprecedented challenge to their adequacy. In this chapter, I shall examine the development of Hong Kong’s welfare regime after the Asian Financial Crisis, in the light of how the historical path of development, economic globalization and the state of political development have combined to structure the response of the state toward the pressure on its welfare regime.

Factors Influencing Network Formation Among Social Service Nonprofit Organizations in Hong Kong and Implications for Comparative and China Studies

ABSTRACT This article examines the factors influencing network formation among social service nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in Hong Kong and aims to illustrate the value of comparative studies of network formation. We argue that two distinct funding regimes, namely a statist-corporatist regime and a liberal regime, are present in Hong Kong. Based on the characteristics of these funding regimes, we examine five factors affecting the size of networks: organizational size, joint-action experience, resource dependency, program needs, and environmental uncertainty. Our study shows that social service NPOs that were formed in two different historical time periods display markedly different operational behavior in networking. While the joint-action experience and program needs of an organization demonstrate a consistent influence on the network formation of NPOs, the effects of organizational size and resource dependency on network size are moderated by environmental uncertainty. We contend that, due to historical and political contexts that are unique to this region, hybridity may be a characteristic of state–nonprofit relations in Greater China. Such unique contexts give rise to patterns of network formation and collaborative governance that may have important implications for state–nonprofit relations and civil society development.

Development of the Nonprofit Sector in Hong Kong and Singapore: A Comparison of Two Statist-corporatist Regimes

This article compares the development of the non-profit sector in two Asian city-states, namely Singapore and Hong Kong. Adapting the classification scheme of the ‘social origins’ theory, we argue that their non-profit regimes can be characterized as ‘statist-corporatist’, which is conceptually distinguishable from the ‘societal-corporatist’ regimes that are more commonly found in some European states. We will identify the factors shaping the historical formation of statist-corporatist non-profit regimes as well as the factors affecting their degree of ‘statism’. We will also examine how the degree of statism of the corporatist regimes may affect the development of civil society through limiting the capability of NPOs to negotiate their own sphere of autonomy vis-à-vis the state and in shaping civilities. Lastly, we will discuss how the recent trends of reform in the regulatory system and new state-led community building efforts have affected the development of these non-profit regimes.