The Government of Hong Kong: Change Within Tradition

1983 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 491-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Hook
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Local Reaction ◽  
Charismatic Leader ◽  
Important Advance ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Scene

In the course of the development of Hong Kong from an over-populated refuge to an international city of state dimensions, its government and political institutions have seldom been the object of detailed analysis by outside observers. One explanation may be that hitherto foreigners have been interested mainly in the performance of the economy to the exclusion of other considerations; now that external factors are influencing the internal affairs of Hong Kong and affecting prospects for growth, the local reaction to the possibility of hard times may be carefully scrutinized. Another, equally plausible, explanation is that since the government is colonial in style with no political parties mutually contesting at regular intervals to form a new administration, the political scene lacks the punctuation marks which would stimulate outside interest. Further consideration of this latter feature suggests that while senior civil servants and appointed representatives may govern impeccably they perforce avoid public debate, and in their public appearances are in any case no substitute for the charismatic leader when it comes to attracting foreign attention. At home, the Government of Hong Kong and its political institutions do not escape scrutiny so easily. Both universities have scholars working in this field and vigorous popular comment and debate is a daily characteristic of the mass media. From a local vantage point, contrary to what may be the view from abroad of an unchanging government and political institutions, significant changes have taken place as Hong Kong has undergone rapid physical development. Although they are changes within an established tradition of government, and do not therefore constitute a fundamental reform, they represent an important advance in community involvement in the administration of Hong Kong.

POLITICAL ELITE AS A SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-54
Author(s):  
Nargiza Ortikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Scientific Problem ◽  
Elite Theory ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
The Government ◽  
Working Out

The article deals with the problems like capability and experience of development of political elite theory, the notion of political elite specialized in ruling a country and other problems in this sphere. The author of the article throws light on the activity of political elite members, groups of people who are occupied at ruling the government, state, political parties and other political institutions. Main factors which indicate tendencies and mechanisms of state development are also discussed in the article. The author of the article suggests that political elite is a ruling layer of a society and functions in the sphere of state administration. The author of the article approaches theoretically to the notions of political elite, which in most cases, consists of professional politicians, who had professional training on working out program and strategies of state administration.Key words: state administration, strategy, program, politician, political institution, analysis of problems, activity of groups

scholarly journals Sweden and the Migration Crisis: Political and Security Aspects

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-61
Author(s):  
Artur Gruszczak
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Adopted Model ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Political Scene

This article aims to make an insight into the conditions of immigration policy and actions undertaken by the Swedish authorities and political parties in the face of the migration crisis in Europe after 2015. A hypothesis presented here assumes that a decisive evolution of the attitudes of the Swedish authorities, political parties, and society towards a restrictive approach to immigration arose from the awareness of the negative consequences of migration management for the Swedish socio-economic model and the political scene. The theoretical framework used in this article is the concept of policy responsiveness, including the ability of political authorities to respond effectively and lawfully to the needs and expectations of the citizens. Process tracing was applied as a research method useful for following the transformation process of Sweden’s immigration policy. Statistical data, documents issued by the government and political parties, as well as the subject literature were the sources utilised in the research. Conclusions drawn from the research point to the tightening of immigration policy as a result of the fear of a prolonged pull effect on foreigners and concern surrounding the appropriate handling of immigration in full accordance with the adopted model of immigration policy.

Przełomowe wydarzenia polityczne w Lublinie w czasie I wojny światowej. Na drodze do niepodległości / Landmarks of the First World War in Lublin. On the way to the independence

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieczysław Ryba
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
First World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Groups ◽  
First World ◽  
Political Scene

AbstractThe author writes about the changes on the political scene in Lublin during the First World War. Since 1915, Lublin was occupied by German and Austrian troops. Some political groups wanted to cooperate with Germany and Austria-Hungary, some opposed to this. 5th November Act 1916 gave the promise of creating a Polish state. Therefore, political parties collaborating with the Germans increased their activity. Later came the growing disappointment against German policy towards Polish. The worst was adopted the Treaty of Brest in 1918, when the Germans and Austrians gave Ukraine a part of Polish territory. In Lublin gained an advantage an anti-German group.In November 1918, the government of Lublin formed the Socialists. To the political struggle, the government began Polish nationalists.

Democracy Deformed: Hong Kong's 1998 Legislative Elections – and Beyond

2000 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 439-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Baum
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Previous Article ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
Legislative Council ◽  
Government Power ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Electoral Laws ◽  
The Government

Electoral democracy has been defined as “a system of government in which the principal positions of effective government power are filled, directly or indirectly, through meaningful, regular, free and fair… elections.” By this criterion, Hong Kong today falls short of being an electoral democracy. There are periodic elections, and there is a 60-seat Legislative Council (LegCo), at least some of whose members are chosen by universal adult suffrage. There are also a number of organized, highly articulate political parties whose legislative members are frequent, outspoken critics of the government and its policies. And there is a system of transparent electoral laws and procedures administered by a professionally neutral civil service, ensuring that elections remain free and fair. Yet for all its manifest electoral virtues, democracy in post-handover Hong Kong is highly constrained and confined, as noted in the previous article by Suzanne Pepper.

scholarly journals Global Effects in Political Ideology-Case of Kosovo

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Burim Mexhuani
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Government Program ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
The Government ◽  
Democratic Elections

: The paper examines the global effects on political ideologies in the case of Kosovo not only theoretical but also practical aspects. The ideological misunderstanding of political parties in Kosovo at a first reading creates the idea of a virus that has passed in many countries with consolidated democracy. In this logic, we can not claim something different to us, for how long, the claim to refer to different doctrines is viewed with much scepticism. To achieve the objectives of the paper, we have elaborated the global effects that have in the ideologies of political parties in Kosovo. The paper found that Integration into the European Communities over the years has become an indisputable priority for any government in Kosovo. The integration process changes in the government program of any political force, not just on paper. It was observed there exists International organizations such as the IMF strive, with a degree of success, to push and impose aspects of globalization in a particular direction, and such discourses, such as neoliberal economic discourse, are an important part of the strategy for to achieve this goal. The findings, therefore, suggest that through participation in democratic elections, they want to represent these interests to representatives and formal political institutions.

Party Systems in Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Basedau
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
The Government

Political party systems are an important element of political systems in Africa and elsewhere. They form the central intermediate institution between the general population and the government. Party systems represent and aggregate diverse political views and group interests, and they form coalitions that then form governments with potentially important consequences of democracy and political stability. Unlike the case in the period directly after independence, African party systems have been overwhelmingly multiparty since the 1990s. As a result, the literature has grown significantly, although most works focus on political parties rather than party systems. Many efforts have been devoted to classification, referring to the legal context as well as, more specifically, the number of relevant parties, the levels of institutionalization, and, less often, the degree of ideological or other polarization. While levels of institutionalization and ideological differences are generally not pronounced, more than half of African party systems have been one-party dominant, of which most are authoritarian. In contrast, two-party and pluralist-party systems, which make up approximately one half of all multiparty systems, are generally more democratic. Besides determining classifications, most analytical work focuses on the determinants of African party systems using quantitative and qualitative as well as macro- and micro-level methodologies. Three determinants are debated: first, ethnicity, which has been cited as the main social cleavage behind African party systems; however, while ethnicity matters, its effects vary and are limited; second, political institutions, especially electoral systems for legislative elections, which only partly explain fragmentation or other features; third, the performance of political parties and rationalist approaches. Scholars largely agree that all of these elements need to be taken into account. While certain functions of party systems may facilitate democratization and political stability or other outcomes, little empirical work exists on the consequences of party systems. Some evidence suggests that highly institutionalized, moderately fragmented, and polarized systems promote democracy. Future research faces many challenges, in particular the development of integrated theory and more fine-grained data, as well as an increased focus on the consequences of party systems.

Government Capacity and the Hong Kong Civil Service. By John P. Burns. [Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. xvi+468 pp. ISBN 0-19-590597-0.]

2005 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 453-454
Author(s):  
Melanie Manion
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Government Capacity ◽  
The Government

John Burns has written an exhaustively researched and highly important book for scholars with a particular interest in Chinese politics and, more broadly, for the fields of comparative politics and public management. Burns examines the contributions of the civil service to government capacity in Hong Kong. His focus is the crucial post-1997 period, which presents him with a number of interesting analytical issues. First, post-1997 Hong Kong continues to lack the political institutions linking citizen preferences to government policy outcomes. In this context, the civil service takes on enormous political importance: it identifies and proposes solutions to community problems, roles that would be performed by politicians and political parties in a liberal democracy. Secondly, although post-1997 Hong Kong has significant autonomy, it is a local government, essentially subject to the rule of Communist leaders in Beijing. This raises interesting problems of relations between centre and locality. Finally, and not least of all, the Hong Kong economy suffered a significant decline in the late 1990s. This challenged the performancebased legitimacy of the government and placed new pressures on it to reform the civil service to strengthen government capacity. Evaluation of these reforms is an important contribution of this volume.Burns examines the civil service from a public management perspective, both describing policies and analysing actual practices, the latter with the use of interviews, surveys and case studies. In the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong government capacity was high. Economic growth was rapid, unemployment was low, and public support for the government was strong, based on apparently successful performance.

Political Modernization: America vs. Europe

1966 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel P. Huntington
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Modernization ◽  
The Government ◽  
Mass Participation ◽  
Human Source ◽  
Political Realm

Political modernization involves, let us assume, three things. First, it involves the rationalization of authority: the replacement of a large number of traditional, religious, familial, and ethnic political authorities by a single, secular, national political authority. This change implies that government is the product of man, not of nature or of God, and that a well-ordered society must have a determinate human source of final authority, obedience to whose positive law takes precedence over other obligations. Rationalization of authority means assertion of the external sovereignty of the nation-state against transnational influences and of the internal sovereignty of the national government against local and regional powers. It means national integration and the centralization or accumulation of power in recognized national law-making institutions. Secondly, political modernization involves the differentiation of new political functions and the development of specialized structures to perform those functions. Areas of peculiar competence—legal, military, administrative, scientific—become separated from the political realm, and autonomous, specialized, but subordinate, organs arise to discharge those tasks. Administrative hierarchies become more elaborate, more complex, more disciplined. Office and power are distributed more by achievement and less by ascription. Thirdly, political modernization involves increased participation in politics by social groups throughout society and the development of new political institutions—such as political parties and interest associations—to organize this participation. Broadened participation in politics may increase control of the people by the government, as in totalitarian states, or it may increase control of the government by the people, as in some democratic ones. But in all modern states the citizens become directly involved in and affected by governmental affairs. Rationalized authority, differentiated structure, and mass participation thus distinguish modern polities from antecedent polities.

The Judicialization of the Public Sphere in Israel

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 500-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itzhak Galnoor
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

AbstractJudicialization in this article is the predisposition to find a solution in adjudication to types of dispute that had been settled previously in a socio-economic-political framework. “Legislative judicialization” (or over-legalization) is also a predisposition according to which the variegated spheres of our lives need to be regulated through a formal code of laws. In the political arena the questions relating to judicialization are: Is the assumption that legal decisions are able to save politics – mainly democratic values and abiding by the derived rules of the game – a valid one? Can one institution of the political system (broadly defined) – the law court – rescue the two other, the parliament and the government, in difficult times? Assuming that “successful” intervention by the judicial institution will cause the other two to abide strictly by the rule of law, could it at the same time curb their effective steering capacity, which is their main task? And conversely, if the steering capacity and the leadership ability to make “good” decisions are so flimsy – would it not be desirable to have judicial review to ensure that the political institutions at least make “proper” decisions that are not extremely unreasonable? These are the main questions discussed in this article.The findings regarding the judicialization of politics point out not only to the eagerness of the law courts, but mainly to the weakening of the political system, to the point where the Knesset, the Government and the political parties find it most difficult to function without the assistance given them by the law courts. And yet, did the judicial branch “save” the other two branches? Obviously, this has not happened thus far. In Israel, a profound democratic deficit exists in the political system due to the fact, among other things, that the political institutions are incapable of coping with the continuing internal and external crises. In Israeli society, judicialization is but a symptom of a wide-ranging predicament that requires a richer bill of fare than more laws and more adjudication. It consists of: the social grounding of democratic values; renewal of trust and confidence in the political institutions; strengthening the political parties; recognition of the contribution of civil organizations and the media; strengthening the local authorities, and more. This is the real arena, because there is a breaking point to the over-judicialization of the public sphere beyond which lies total anarchy.

scholarly journals The military coup in Turkey on May 27, 1960: background, drivers and it consequences

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-209
Author(s):  
Malika Sharipovna Tovsultanova ◽  
Rustam Alkhazurovich Tovsultanov ◽  
Lilia Nadipovna Galimova
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Charismatic Leader ◽  
National Unity ◽  
High Inflation ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

In the 1950s, the Democratic Party came to power in Turkey, relying on the provincial bourgeoisie and clericals. The charismatic leader of democrats Adnan Menderes became the prime-minister. The Democratic government pursued an active foreign and domestic policy. In particular, abandoning its traditional neutrality, Turkey joined NATO and CenTO military blocs. Concessions were made to religious circles. The government also carried out large-scale reforms, for which the society was not ready, due to which an economic crisis erupted in the country, the most characteristic manifestation of which was high inflation. By introducing repressive laws against dissidents, attempts to isolate the opposition, in particular the leaders of the Republican Peoples Party (RPP), the Democrats pushed the latter to search for allies in the army. In the ranks of the latter, under the influence of Western agents and the dissatisfaction of the officers themselves with the situation in the country, the idea of a military coup came about on May 27, 1960. As a result of the coup, the National Unity Committee came to power, consisting of representatives of the generals and leaders of the Republican Peoples Party. In 1961, a new constitution was adopted at a referendum, reforming the system of legislative power in the country, after which power again passed to civilian political institutions. The leader of the military who carried out the coup, General Jemal Grsel, became the prime minister, while the chairman of the Republican Peoples Party Ismet İnnbecame became the president of Turkey.

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