Social Movements and Political Reform in Hong Kong

Butenhoff, Linda. Social Movements and Political Reform in Hong Kong. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1999. 134 pp.

The handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 is one of the most important events in international politics in the end of twentieth century. Although the handover impacted their lives deeply, Hong Kong people had little formal right of audience to it, for Chinese and British had agreed that the handover was only a foreign affairs matter between China and UK. However, Hong Kong people expressed their concerns and ideas through social movements and these social movements promoted the pre- and post-1997 political reform, which has gradually changed Hong Kong from indirect political participation to direct political participation. However, works both on social movements and Hong Kong in general have neglected explaining and analyzing these movements. For instance, the social movement literature is dominated by case studies of European and North American movements. In addition, traditional explanations interpreting political change in Hong Kong have used historical analysis centering on the structure of Hong Kong government, political culture analyses and most recently political stability case studies. Regarding this, the author suggests that social movements need to be examined by political scientists in order to assess their challenges and demands to reform political systems and to reshape the nature of state-society relations.

Butenhoff's book studied three social movements in Hong Kong before 1997: the independent labor movement, nontraditional Christian movement, and the democracy movement. The author used an integrated approach which combined three traditional approaches, i.e., identity politics, resource mobilization, and the world system approach to study the social movements on four levels of analysis: the individual, movement structure and organization, the national context, and the macro or international level.

The author agrees that social movements are collective actions that challenge authorities to address their demands. The goal of social movement theory is to explain why they emerge, in what ways they act and behave, and when they occur. Before discussing the three social movements, the author reviewed the evolution of civil society and the history of social movements in Hong Kong, the structure of Hong Kong government including its colonial era and as the special administrative region, and the politics of Hong Kong especially the political reform in post-Tiananmen. These provide a clear historical background and social context for the three social movements. After reviewing the history of these movements, the author argues that the independent labor movement emerged in response to the ideological division in Hong Kong's labor movement influenced by mainland China and Taiwan, and also because of the government's laissez-faire and pro-business policies. Because workers were left out of the formal sphere, the independent labor movement advocated the improvement of worker's quality of life and did create alternative forms of participation for the Hong Kong worker. The movement educated and organized workers on their rights.

The non-traditional Christian movement formed because the traditional and established Church and church organizations did not respond to the crisis in confidence. Christians were worried that freedom of religion and respect for human rights would evaporate after 1997. This movement, too, created organizations and programs which expanded the way in which Christians could take part in a changing Hong Kong society.

The democracy movement's goal was to open up civil society and allow civil democracy to form-not only through political parties and elections, but also through watchdog groups like the United Ants. This movement seeks to expand civil society and redefine state-society relations in order to advance democracy and autonomy in Hong Kong.

In a word, the author argues that these social movements were successful, for many of the social movement organizations that emerged in the 1980s have become political parties in order to take part in direct elections. Civil society has grown and more people have a platform to express their concerns and ideas. Without these Hong Kong social movements, the extent of political reform in pre- and post-handover Hong Kong would have been more limited.

In assessing the whole book, the study on three levels of analysis are more successful, [the movements organization structure level, national level, and macro international level] than the analysis on the individual level which is weaker. This may be improved only by using more questionnaires and quantitative analysis. Or the method of C. Wright Mills can be applied, i.e., studying biographies. With studying biographies, history and their intersections within a society, we can combine the personal troubles of a milieu with public issues of social structure, and study the phenomena and reason of the personal uneasiness and the public indifference. From this point of view, Hong Kong social movements are the response to the people's uneasiness about 1997 and their indifference toward traditional participation. This is similar to the author's conclusion. Nevertheless, this book is very readable and is a good introduction for those who wish to acquire basic knowledge of the complex situation of social movements and political reform in Hong Kong.