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CIAO DATE: 2/5/2007
Two Simple Mechanisms for Advancing the Democratic Governance of Hong Kong
Thomas S. Axworthy , Herman B. Leonard
August 2006
Abstract
In recent discussions in Hong Kong, we outlined two suggestions for increasing the governance role that might be given to parties that successfully develop an electoral mandate. Under the existing conditions in Hong Kong, the “parties” are mainly focused on (and present positions on) what we would describe as “meta-issues” – issues of governance structure or philosophy – rather than on substantive issues (like housing policy, immigration policy, and so on). The DAB espouses maintaining close alignment with Beijing; Democrats propound rapid movement toward universal suffrage. These “policies” are mainly about how Hong Kong should decide, rather than about what it should decide. In addition, a large fraction of organized political activity in Hong Kong is organized in opposition to the government and its policies. In parliamentary systems, by definition, the government of the day enjoys the electoral mandate of a majority of the parliament – it is by holding a majority of seats (or by forming a coalition that then constitutes a majority) that it becomes the government of the day. With Hong Kong’s executive-led government system, by contrast, the government (without an independent electoral mandate) is supposed to provide policy leadership – in the face of political forces that have organized against it, and without mechanisms to develop or inspire countervailing political movements in its favor.
