The Road to Electoral Authoritarianism: Tracing Three Phases of State-Society Contention in Post-Colonial Hong Kong, 2003–2020

Abstract

Previous studies have examined Hong Kong’s hybrid regime by investigating the interactions among activists, the local government, and the Chinese national government. This article adopts the lens of contentious politics and a multi-level approach to understand regime evolution within the local-national-regional-global nexus. It presents an original dataset that records movement tactics and state responses in four major protests and delineates three phases of state-society contention between 2003 and 2020. It explains regime evolution by highlighting five intertwining factors: activists’ tactical learning; organisational ecology in civil society; state repression strategies; regional politics in Greater China; and international political economy. It finds that the first phase (2003–2012) was characterised by an increasing use of disruptive tactics, an emergent call for de-centred mobilisation, and a limited deployment of state security forces. The second phase (2013–2015) exhibited nascent applications of violent tactics, while the state employed more forceful police repression, re-engineered the electoral field, and sponsored counter-mobilisation. The most recent phase (2016–2020) showed activists’ intensified use of violent tactics and a strong intention to seek international support. The state responded to local threats and international pressure with violent crackdowns and stricter institutional arrangements, which has resulted in an electoral authoritarian regime that is less-than-competitive.

Key Words:

• Anti-ELAB protests
• electoral authoritarianism
• Hong Kong
• hybrid regime
• state-society relations
• Umbrella Movement

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The filibuster was first used by pro-China legislators in 1999, but the pro-democracy camp first used it in 2009.

2 Li Wangyang was a labour activist who was allegedly murdered by the mainland police after being interviewed by a Hong Kong journalist.

3 Falun Gong is a religious group banned in mainland China due to its spiritual-ideological principles. Although its activities are legal in Hong Kong, it has become a target of pro-China groups.

4 The Pillar of Shame is a sculpture created to memorialise the deaths in tragic events such as the 1989 Tiananmen student protests.

5 Yellow was adopted as the symbolic colour of the pro-democracy movement and the yellow ribbon was a symbol signifying support for the Umbrella Movement.

Additional information

Funding

Michelle W.T. Cheng is a recipient of the Research Grants Council Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDFS2021-8H01) funded by the University Grants Committee.