Democratization as institutional change: Hong Kong 1992–2015
| Author | Mathew YH Wong |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2057891119896424 |
| Subject Matter | Research articles |
Research article
Democratization
as institutional change:
Hong Kong 1992–2015
Mathew YH Wong
Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Abstract
The limited democratization in Hong Kong has been on-going for more than three decades. Unlike
typical democratizations as the abrupt breakdown of authoritarian regimes, the case of Hong Kong
is characterized by gradual and incremental changes under a constitutional framework. The pro-
cess, involving actors such as the Chinese government, colonial government, and local democratic
forces, provides a wide variety of forms of institutional changes. By utilizing concepts from the
literature on institutional change, namely path dependence, layering, and conversion, important
junctures of democratization in Hong Kong are analyzed. It is found that the case can be suitably
explained by the framework of institutional change. This research carries implications for the study
of central-regional interactions, democratization, and Hong Kong politics.
Keywords
China, democratization, Hong Kong, institutional change, institutions
Many democratic transitions take the form of an abrupt change. Although the first wave of
democratization (the Anglo-Saxon countries) took place over decades, it is nowadays not common
for the process to be unfolded over an extended period of time (despite the existence of long-term
causes of change), as demonstrated by the third-wave democratizers. The case of democratization
(or lack thereof) in Hong Kong, which has been on-going for about three decades under a contested
plan, thus offers a unique perspective to the literature. In this article, I apply theories of institu-
tionalism to examine critical junctures of democratization as instances of institutional change
(historical institutionalism; Hall and Taylor, 1996). It is argued that we can not only better
understand the case of Hong Kong, but also bring the literature of democratization together with
institutionalism.
Corresponding author:
Mathew YH Wong, Department of Social Sciences, Education University of Hong Kong, 10 Lo Ping Rd, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
Email: myhwong@eduhk.hk
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2021, Vol. 6(1) 92–106
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/2057891119896424
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