Beyond the 'Beijing Factor' : assessing the failure of civil society as a democratising agent in Hong Kong's democracy movement

Since Samuel Huntington’s discussion of the third wave of democratisation in 1991, there has been a vast amount of scholarly literature written about democratic transition in various countries. The case of Hong Kong, however, remains a paradox in modernisation theory. Despite the presence of an active and vibrant civil society in the city, there has been no notable success in the outcome of its political reform as both the Central People’s Government and Hong Kong SAR government have not budged from their original stance. While the ‘Beijing factor’ has been attributed as the fundamental constraint on Hong Kong’s democratisation process, this dissertation posits that the city’s vibrant and strong civil society has also not pushed the SAR’s democracy movement forward. Specifically, low levels of organisational institutionalisation and inadequate horizontal linkages among its civil society organisations, exacerbated by the ad hoc nature of its united fronts and umbrella bodies, has impeded the effectiveness of Hong Kong’s civil society. As a result, while the city’s civil society was able to take on the role of self-defence, it lacked the necessary capacity and ability to function as an effective democratising agent in the SAR’s democracy movement.Master of Science (Asian Studies