Hong Kong's Governance Under Chinese Sovereignty - The Failure of the State-Business Alliance after 1997 (Hardcover)

As a hybrid regime, Hong Kong has been governed by a state-business alliance since the colonial era. However, since the handover in 1997, the transformation of Hong Kong s political and socio-economic environment has eroded the conditions that supported a viable state-business alliance. This state-business alliance, which was once a solution for Hong Kong s governance, has now become a political burden, rather than a political asset, to the post-colonial Hong Kong state.

This book presents a critical re-examination of the post-1997 governance crisis in Hong Kong under the Tung Chee-hwa and Donald Tsang administrations. It shows that the state-business alliance has failed to function as an organizational machinery for supporting the post-colonial state, and has also served to generate new governance problems. Drawing upon contemporary theories on hybrid regimes and state capacity, this book looks beyond the existing opposition-centered explanations of Hong Kong s governance crisis. By establishing the causal relationship between the failure of the state-business alliance and the governance crisis facing the post-colonial state, Brian C. H. Fong broadens our understanding of the governance problems and political confrontations in post-colonial Hong Kong. In turn, he posits that although the state-business alliance worked effectively for the colonial state in the past, it is now a major problem for the post-colonial state, and suggests that Hong Kong needs a realignment of a new governing coalition."

Hong Kong s Governance under Chinese Sovereignty" will enrich and broaden the existing literature on Hong Kong s public governance whilst casting new light on the territory s political developments. As such, it will be welcomed by students and scholars interested in Chinese politics, Hong Kong politics, and governance."