Lau Siu-kai

Traditional Orientations and Political Participation in Three Chinese Societies

Based on three large-scale sample surveys in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, this study purports to delineate the relation between traditional political orientations and political participation. It is found that among all three societies, Chinese in the Mainland are most traditional. In general, the negative impact of traditional political orientations on political participation is small once education is controlled for. In particular, political participation in Hong Kong is more individually based, facilitated primarily by modernization pressures. In Taiwan, institutional factors such as democracy, elections and civic associations are paramount and are buttressed by a rising white-collar class. In Mainland China, traditional political orientations have a positive impact on participation and this impact stays much the same even after controlling for education. The positive impact can be explained by institutional interference whereby traditional political orientations exert influence differently on different modes of participation: negative on adversary and protest activities but positive on voting, campaign and appeal activities. The findings of this paper imply that the argument that Confucian political culture makes a democratic China impossible is incomplete and will become irrelevant.

Hong Kong's Stunted Political Party System

Hong Kongs political parties are now in decline after the return of the former British colony to China. The decline of political parties stands out in stark relief in a context featuring “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” and gradual democratization. A major reason for the decline is the stunted political party system of Hong Kong. Prominent in that stunted system is the absence of a ruling party. The stunted party system is primarily the result of Beijings antipathy towards party politics in Hong Kong, which in turn discourages party formation by the Hong Kong government and the conservative elites. The lack of incentives for the business elites to organize political parties to protect their interests is another major reason. The stunted party system has produced serious adverse consequences for the governance of Hong Kong, representation of interests, public attitudes towards the political class and the further democratization of the territory.

Between Liberal Autocracy and Democracy: Democratic Legitimacy in Hong Kong

The partial democracy in Hong Kong is an experiment with limited suffrage in a liberal, self-governing society. This article examines the impact of system dissatisfaction and fundamental cultural values on democratic legitimacy, using logistic regression analyses of data drawn from an electoral survey in 2000. It is found that widespread public dissatisfaction with the economic downturn has not been generalized to the abstract, structural level of regime legitimacy. Equally widespread discontent with the political situation matters; but it has strengthened public support for democracy, rather than weakened it. Finally, democratic legitimacy is grounded in liberal, post-material and individualist-competitive values. In recognition of the plausible durability of these fundamental cultural norms and in view of the relative lack of support for non-democratic alternatives and strong support for partial electoral reform, we conclude that Hong Kong is very likely to remain on track toward a fuller democracy by incremental steps.

Partial Democratization, “Foundation Moment” and Political Parties in Hong Kong *

Before the late 1980s, political parties were unknown phenomena in colonial Hong Kong. Since then measures of democratization initiated by the British in anticipation of their withdrawal in 1997 made available a portion of political power for public contest. The democratic reforms initiated by Chris Patten, the last colonial governor of Hong Kong, accelerated party formation and competition in the last few years of British rule.

The Partial Vision of Democracy in Hong Kong: A Survey of Popular Opinion

Democracy has become a universal idea. Francis Fukuyama has even argued that liberal democracy constitutes the end point of mankinds ideological evolution and the final form of human government.1 In Hong Kong, however, liberal democracy will remain hard to come by.2 Many paths to democracy have already been ruled out. The remaining, evolutionary route is protracted and turbulent, full of conflicts among the Chinese government, its British counterpart, and the local elites in Hong Kong. Since the two governments are the dominant players, the local pro-democracy elites can meaningfully

Public Attitude toward Laissez Faire in Hong Kong

Extolling the doctrine of laissez faire, the Hong Kong government opts for a minimal and noninterventionist economic role and operates an administrative apparatus that lacks the capacity for economic intervention. The ideology of laissez faire is enthusiastically propagated by the government and the business sector and appears connected in the public mind with the economic miracle. On the surface at least, it seems that laissez faire as an economic creed is widely embraced by Hong Kong Chinese. However, it will be argued here that there is a significant disparity between the official and the popular conceptions of the economic role of government. This becomes apparent when the publics views on the concrete functions of government are solicited; for example, the public desires more government intervention in welfare areas even if it would slow down economic growth. Popular understanding of the economic role of government is closely related to the Chinese conception of state, society, and the individual. Despite the disparity in understanding, popular demands for changes in the economic role of the government are moderate due to a number of factors that alleviate the conflicts stemming from the disparity. However, recent changes in Hong Kong will increasingly subject the government to political demands for a more interventionist economic role on its part, and the doctrine of laissez faire will become even more irrelevant,

The attentive spectators: Political participation of the Hong Kong Chinese

Based on a large-scale territory-wide questionnaire survey, this study purports to delineate the pattern of political participation of the Hong Kong Chinese. It is found that though the overall level of participation remains low, political activism has nonetheless increased since the early 1980s. Political participation in Hong Kong is primarily parochial and conventional in nature, yet there also exists a significant expressive and unconventional component. The mode of participation is fragmented and largely individualistic. Hong Kong Chinese are increasingly inclined to take collective actions, but participation mobilized by political groups is still limited. Hong Kong Chinese however pay much attention to politics. In view of the coexistence of high cognitive participation and low behavioral participation, Hong Kong Chinese can be appropriately described as “attentive spectators.”

Decline of governmental authority, political cynicism and political inefficacy in Hong Kong

The authority of the Hong Kong government declined continuously during the last decade. The people had become less trustful of and less deferential to public authorities. Public evaluation of governmental performance had also dropped. Political cynicism was on the rise, and the government was increasingly seen as colluding with the business sector to pursue its own interests. A sense of political efficacy also prevailed. However, the people did not perceive viable alternatives to the incumbent government. Consequently, the combination of political cynicism and political inefficacy had produced feelings of political frustration and alienation, but it did not generate serious political instability in Hong Kong.

Intermediation environments and election in Hong Kong

The new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) held its first election in 1998. Based on data from a post‐election survey, this article charts the pattern of intermediation environments and their impact on electoral participation. An intermediation environment is a network of communicating information or points of view. This study focuses on the environments of primary social networks, secondary associations and the mass media. They are found to be influential in the diffusion of political knowledge and in mobilizing electoral participation. However, the majority of Hong Kong citizens are unembedded in these environments, thereby carrying negative implications for the democratic transition in Hong Kong.