In July 1997, the British government handed Hong Kong back to China as the world wondered whether the building blocks of democracy hastily laid in Hong Kong over the previous two decades were sturdy enough to withstand the change. While many scholars of democratization have focused on outside forces and legal change, the author of this text argues that - in the case of Hong Kong - the societal dimension reveals more clearly the issues and difficulties of establishing a viable democracy. He shows how Hong Kong moved from ...
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In July 1997, the British government handed Hong Kong back to China as the world wondered whether the building blocks of democracy hastily laid in Hong Kong over the previous two decades were sturdy enough to withstand the change. While many scholars of democratization have focused on outside forces and legal change, the author of this text argues that - in the case of Hong Kong - the societal dimension reveals more clearly the issues and difficulties of establishing a viable democracy. He shows how Hong Kong moved from being a non-democracy in the 1970s to a restricted democracy in the 1980s to a contested democracy in the 1990s and how Hong Kong now negotiates a democratic compromise under Chinese rule.
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