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.     

Nationalism and its consequences: A review

Anthony D. Smith, Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 288, £15.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–19–829684–3 (also published in cloth edition).

Umut Ozkirimli, Theories of Nationalism A Critical Introduction, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd, 2000, pp 253, £14.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–333–77712–3 (also published in cloth edition).

Hakan Wiberg and Christian P. Scherrer (eds.), Ethnicity and Intra‐State Conflict: Types , Causes and Peace Strategies. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999, pp.327, £42.50 (cloth). ISBN 1–84014713X.

Michael Hechter, Containing Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.256, £19.99. ISBN 0–19829742–4 (cloth).     

东南亚华商在香港的经济活动分析

香港一直是东南亚华商投资与从事商贸活动的中心,也是东南亚与中国大陆进行经贸联系的中介,1980年代以来,香港更成为东南亚华人企业投资中国的桥梁。二战后,东南亚华商在香港的投资额越来越大,东南亚华人资本已成为香港经济的重要组成部分。尽管东南亚金融危机对东南亚华商在港企业造成了大冲击,但是大多数华人在港企业还是克服困难,度过了难关。     

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.     

Hong Kong and Macao in transition (I): Debating democracy

Hong Kong returns to Chinese sovereignty on 1 July 1997 and Portugal terminates its administration of Macao, handing over to China, on 20 December 1999.’ The unprecedented circumstances when two European colonies are decolonized, not into independence but the embrace of the last effective communist state in the world, have raised considerable anxieties about the future of democracy there and the rights and freedoms of their inhabitants. Unlike other colonies, the acquisition and administration of Hong Kong or Macao was accomplished without any significant coercion of the local population. In recent years both have enjoyed a high degree of personal liberties, while also achieving high levels of economic development. However, neither has experienced any measure of democracy defined in terms of representation of the people in government or the accountability of the state apparatus. Consequently an examination and explanation of the extent of democracy that will be established there after their reversion to China should help illuminate the debate about the relevance of democracy to rights and freedoms and to economic development.     

国家民族主义与阿拉伯国家的文化整合

在阿拉伯世界 ,国家民族主义在文化整合过程中发挥着主导作用。这种以国家为载体的国家民族主义主要是通过宣扬传统文化、改变原有社会规范和价值观、发展现代教育和大众传媒等方式来进行文化整合。然而 ,这种由民族主义主导的文化整合进程 ,由于无法妥善地处理寻求差异与追求共性的矛盾 ,无法有效地区分政治认同与族裔认同 ,因而导致了政治认同的混乱和文化整合的不成功。     

State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States: Responding to Challenges from Below

Abstract

While calls for self-determination and independence make headlines worldwide, an often more subtle state nationalism remains an endemic condition of the modern world. In the introductory article for this Special Issue, we define state and majority nationalism we identify three challenges in the study of these phenomena, we suggest that a focus on plurinational states helps to overcome them, and we set out the conceptual, ideational and strategic dimensions of the Special Issue. We hope that this edited collection as a whole contributes to refine our understanding of state and majority nationalism and encourages scholars to engage more actively in their study.     

Why Stay Together? State Nationalism and Justifications for State Unity in Spain and the UK

Abstract

This paper examines the way party elites in the UK and Spain discursively construct the nation and justify state integrity in the face of resurgent Catalan and Scottish demands for self-determination and independence. While in each case there is a plurality of conceptions of the state, in Spain the demos is predominantly defined as a single, indivisible nation of equal citizens while in the UK the focus is typically on a plurinational Union. This, we contend, shapes the arguments made in favor of state unity. The dominant case for state integrity in Spain is more negative, focused primarily on the unconstitutionality of independence and delegitimizing the independence agenda. In the UK, the predominant appeal to the Union is more positive and instrumental: as the country is perceived as a partnership entered into willingly, a case must be made for its continuation. This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of state nationalism and political dynamics in plurinational states by shedding light on the ways in which party elites understand and legitimize the state at moments of profound internal challenge.     

Democratization and decline of trust in public institutions in Hong Kong

The article examines the considerable literature on the relationship between sustainable development and democracy beginning with an exploration of the concepts. Various models have been put forward to describe this relationship and these can be viewed as various pathologies of development that may trap the unwary. Participation and empowerment are seen as a key to sustainable development by many authors, although there are widely differing interpretations of what this should mean. The search for people's empowerment has centred on moves towards decentralization and the strengthening of civil society. Decentralization has proved extremely difficult to implement in practice and having civil society act as a balancing mechanism to the power of the political elite has often proved to be no less illusory. Political participation is no guarantee of sustainable development as local and national elites will inevitably try to hijack the process. Whilst there is no strict correlation between democracy and sustainable development some items in the democratic package are capable of being prioritized and can help build sustainable development, in particular transparency in the management of resources, protecting human rights and encouraging social participation.     

The emergence of regional economies in China and its implications,with special reference to Hong Kong and Guangdong

  China's continental physical expanse has been a dominant, shaping influence of its political, social and economic development throughout its modern history. Thanks to its relative ethnic homogeneity, as well as the absence of political reform, it has – unlike the former Soviet Union – preserved its unity as a state. Nevertheless, regionalism remains a powerful counterpoint to centralisation in China. In particular, under the impact of post-1978 economic reforms, differentials and tensions between provinces and regions have emerged as a potent force, threatening the authority and power of Beijing. This article begins by seeking to explore some of the regional forms in which economic change has manifested itself during the last two decades. It highlights the unique problems faced by an economy that is still in transition in a country as large as China. Brief consideration is also given to the wider regional context in which China is sometimes placed as the central player – namely, that of `Greater China'. At the heart of the article is a case study that examines the evolution of a particular kind of regionalism, captured in the economic integration – even symbiosis - between Hong Kong and Guangdong. The question is addressed whether the form of regionalism contained within the forging of an ever-closer economic relationship between these two areas of South China can be a model for the integration of other regions both within and across China's national boundaries. Hong Kong's transformation from a tiny, dependent, colonial enclave into one of the most successful economies in the world is one of the most remarkable stories of post-World War II economic history. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hong Kong's growth record was unmatched anywhere else in the world. But by the beginning of the 1980s, high land rents and spiralling wages started to erode the international competitiveness that had been the basis of Hong Kong's previous economic success. By a happy coincidence, however, the emergence of such pressures coincided with the opening of China to the outside world. China's `open door' policy thereby made available to Hong Kong entrepreneurs a huge, hitherto untapped reservoir of cheap labour and gave them access to inexpensive factory sites just across the border in Guangdong. It was a lifeline to which they responded eagerly and, through the relocation of their factories, provided the means whereby Hong Kong manufacturers discovered a new lease of life. The benefits associated with this process accrued not only to Hong Kong through the regeneration of its manufacturing industry. Rather, it was a two-way process that also facilitated economic growth, structural transformation and improvements in living standards in Guangdong (above all, in the Pearl River Delta). In short, the process became the basis of deepening integration between the economies of the two regions. Indeed, it was the key element in the emergence of a new regional economic grouping, known as `Greater China' – an informal triangular partnership between Hong Kong, Taiwan and two southern Chinese provinces (Guangdong and Fujian). The emergence of `Greater China' can be regarded as a particular manifestation of the coastal bias that has so strongly characterised China's economic trajectory under reform. To this day, the triangular economic nexus between Hong Kong, Taiwan and South China remains an important dimension of China's external economic relations, even if developments in other coastal provinces have caused it to weaken. To what extent recent and future developments have challenged and will continue to challenge the regionalism inherent in the original notion of Greater China is something that deserves close attention. Not least, the strategic initiative of opening up China's western regions poses interesting and important questions that touch on future developments of `trans-nationalism' and `trans-regionalism' affecting China.     

Hong Kong and Macao in transition (II): Exploring the new political order

The first part of the article focused on democratization and the main issues at stake between China, Britain, Portugal, Hong Kong and Macao as the responsibility for the two colonies reverts to the mainland. It was argued that their separate history and their respective metropolitan traditions will weigh heavily on the prospects for any phased transition to democracy. Of more immediate importance, however, is the current balance of forces within the region which affects them both, particularly their relationships with a China undergoing vast social and economic changes with profound implications for their own future political development. In this second part of the article there is more concern with current and future problems affecting the practice of democracy in Hong Kong and Macao, particularly the ways in which the new Basic Laws might operate in practice after 1997.     

An Unwelcome Presence:U.S. Interference in Hong Kong Since 2007

正In 1982, China and Great Britain started negotiating thehandover of Hong Kong. As a bystander nation, the UnitedStates had taken a low-key attitude, only showing its interestin maintaining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability. However,since President George H. W. Bush assumed power in 1989,     

Defending the Nation: The Role of Nationalism in Chinese Thinking on Human Rights

This article examines the symbiotic relationship between Chinese thinking on human rights and Chinese nationalism. It analyses the three key periods in the Chinese discourse on human rights: late Qing, Republican, and post-Mao. In each case, discussions of rights have often (but not always) taken place within a wider debate about the protection of China's national interests from foreign infringement, although the nature of the foreign infringement has changed over time. During the late Qing debate, with China increasingly threatened by foreign military imperialism, scholars argued enthusiastically for the introduction of a new system of democratic rights as a vital tool of national resistance. During the Republican era that followed, the threat from outside remained the same. However by now many theorists had grown disillusioned with democracy and rights, believing that the only way China could withstand further foreign encroachments was to withhold rights from its people. In the post-Mao debate on rights, the interests of the nation are again at the fore. But with China now an emerging rather than a collapsing power, rights are often analysed – at least from an official perspective – within the context of cultural rather than military imperialism, the new ‘threat’ from abroad. The article then examines the views of China's ‘non-official’ rights thinkers, most of whom tend to be much less affected by nationalist concerns and ends with an assessment of the prospects for democracy and rights in China.     

拉玛六世的民族主义与排华思想及其影响

从1910年泰国拉玛六世登基到1944年披汶·颂堪军人政权的垮台，在这30多年的时间里，泰国统治阶级掀起了泰中关系史上的第一次排华浪潮。可以说拉玛六世最先拉开了排华运动的序幕，创建君主立宪制的民党政府则将排华丑剧推上了舞台，而披汶·颂堪政府则把这出丑剧表演得淋漓尽致。纵观这期间的排华政策，几乎都是以“限制华人政治权利、打压华人经济、阻止中华文化传播”为主线，但在具体措施上略有异同。     

Red Star Ascending, Flagging Union Jack: Soviet Views on the Handover of Hong Kong

On 22 September 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher met the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in Beijing, where they discussed the future of Hong Kong. The meeting did not go well. Deng made it clear that, with or without British cooperation, China would resume full sovereignty and administration over the tiny colony when the lease on Hong Kong expired on 30 June 1997. This article is based on two recently released documents from the Russian Foreign Ministry Archive (AVP RF) and reveals the hitherto unknown Soviet attitude toward these talks and the handover itself. Soviet leaders were very concerned that the Chinese should not consider Soviet control over vast territories in the Far East as based on unequal, hence illegitimate, nineteenth century treaties, as they did British control over Hong Kong. If those Russian treaties were unequal, then Soviet rule would be in grave danger. The Soviets sought to distinguish their treaties from the British ones. Seeking normal relations, the Chinese agreed not to challenge this interpretation.     

Red Star Ascending,Flagging Union Jack: Soviet Views on the Handover of Hong Kong

On 22 September 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher met the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in Beijing, where they discussed the future of Hong Kong. The meeting did not go well. Deng made it clear that, with or without British cooperation, China would resume full sovereignty and administration over the tiny colony when the lease on Hong Kong expired on 30 June 1997. This article is based on two recently released documents from the Russian Foreign Ministry Archive (AVP RF) and reveals the hitherto unknown Soviet attitude toward these talks and the handover itself. Soviet leaders were very concerned that the Chinese should not consider Soviet control over vast territories in the Far East as based on unequal, hence illegitimate, nineteenth century treaties, as they did British control over Hong Kong. If those Russian treaties were unequal, then Soviet rule would be in grave danger. The Soviets sought to distinguish their treaties from the British ones. Seeking normal relations, the Chinese agreed not to challenge this interpretation.     

Eisenhower, the British and the security of Hong Kong, 1953-60

This article is an examination of Hong Kong's importance within British-American security arrangements in the Far East during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Archival evidence indicates that the Eisenhower Administration accepted a greater deal of commitment to the defence of Hong Kong during the 1950s — a period of significant hostility between the United States and the People's Republic of China. To understand this policy evolution in the broader context, this study evaluates the differences in British and American attitudes towards China during the 1950s and the effect of this on US policy towards Hong Kong.