The Making of a Corporatist State in Hong Kong: The Road to Sectoral Intervention

Extant Hong Kong studies have under-stated the corporatist nature of the Hong Kong state. From the 1980s, as part of its political strategy, the Chinese government had helped to build a corporatist state in Hong Kong that incorporated various sectoral elites, leading to a change in the role of the state after 1997. Through an empirical study of the behaviour of functional constituency legislators and policy outputs after 1997, this article shows that the functional constituencies as a corporatist structure introduced many sector-oriented demands. These sectoral representatives lobbied for favourable polices, increased representation for their sectors, and more state resources. This drove the post-1997 Hong Kong state to sectoral intervention, as resources were diverted to selected sectors, creating new legitimacy problems for the regime.     

工作—生活平衡:欧洲探索与中国观照

随着生活节奏日益加快和工作压力的增强,工作和生活领域的冲突逐渐凸显,成为影响人们福利的一种新社会风险。在过去三十多年中,欧洲福利国家已经进行了不少旨在减少工作—生活冲突,促进工作—生活平衡的政策实践,并且取得了比较全面的政策效果。随着经济社会转型的进一步深入,我国同样面临着工作—生活冲突这一个新的社会问题。然而,与欧洲相比,工作—生活平衡在我国仍然还是一个比较新的话题,无论是理论研究还是政策实践都还处于起步阶段。借鉴欧洲经验并研究和探讨中国情境下的工作—生活平衡问题,有助于我们更深入地理解我国劳动力市场变迁以及社会政策的发展方向,从而为应对我国由于社会变迁而带来的新社会风险,保障和提高人们的福祉做好充分准备。     

Of Sustainability and Excellence: Chinese Academia at a Crossroads

What forces shape the recent growth and evolution of higher education in China? Has it been a means of attaining China's national goals domestically and abroad? This essay looks at some of the forces that influence current academic growth. A search for balance between institutional survival and academic excellence as well as salient differences between public policy training in China and the United States are highlighted .     

Civil Society in Self-Defense: the struggle against national security legislation in Hong Kong

The political struggle against national security legislation in Hong Kong led to an unprecedented awakening of civil society against the state and the largest indigenous movement in Hong Kong history. The proposed laws by the Hong Kong government were seen as overbroad and ill-defined, and the government's disregard of public opinion led to an outcry from various social sectors. The Catholic Church, legal professionals and the press played special roles in opinion leadership and mobilization in the struggle. The mass protest created an internal split of the governing elite and forced the postponement of the legislation. It also encouraged local participation, re-fueled an ailing democracy movement, and put democratic reforms onto the political agenda of Hong Kong.     

The 2001 “spy” plane incident revisited: the Chinese perspective

The 2001 “spy” plane incident was probably the most serious military incident in Sino-American relations since the 1970s, and it generated a crisis in the already brittle relationship since the new Bush administration came into office. This article attempts to revisit this incident from the Chinese perspective and provides some insight into the understanding of the Chinese foreign policy behavior and position on Sino-American relations. It presents the respective arguments concerning the responsibilities of the incident, explores the Chinese historical memory of US hegemonic behavior, and examines the Chinese perspective and attitude towards the incident and their causes through a study of the reactions of the Chinese government and the Chinese people to the incident.¹ He is the founding editor of theHong Kong Journal of Social Sciences and theJournal of Comparative Asian Development. He is also Guest Lecturer at the School of Government, Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, China. The author wishes to thank anonymous reveiwers for their helpful comments made on earlier drafts of this paper.     

Reinventing the Hong Kong state or rediscovering it? From low interventionism to eclectic corporatism

Abstract

The low-intervention state of Hong Kong in colonial times did not originate from strong neo-liberal ideological convictions. It was an artefact of the colonial political configuration, a pragmatic governing strategy adapting to the political and economic needs at the time. Political changes, economic restructuring, divestiture and marketization of state institutions since the 1980s had brought a new state form after 1997. A new business and professional elite class, embedded in an eclectic corporatist structure, evolved and brought multilateral, ad hoc and particularistic bargaining, leading to more sectoral intervention after 1997. Fragmented state institutions nonetheless weakened state capacity, making it difficult for the post-1997 state to be highly penetrative, transformative or developmental.