Governance in HK: In Search of Identity, Legitimacy and Trust
--by Professor Cheung Bing Leung, Anthony
Since 1997, Hong Kong has been suffering from one crisis after another. The infallibility of the administrative state, long held to be responsible for its success story in the British era, has by now been largely eroded. Hong Kong’s political trajectory has come to a stage where a political culture of distrust is being reinforced at a time when political trust is much needed for different institutions to cooperate, and to enable the government to govern effectively and lead society in major policy innovations and reforms. The quest for Hong Kong identity has spurred a renewed campaign for democracy, and a new movement of local awareness. The more the Hong Kong ‘public’ embraces a strong local identity, the more demanding they
become towards the government – expecting it to be proactive in protecting the Hong Kong identity and interests, and furthering local welfare.
This lecture reviews Hong Kong’s governance within the context of its political trajectory to become part of China, and diagnoses the nature of the current political quagmire, major constraints and dilemmas, as well as institutional setbacks and failures to cope with rising demands, due to the inability to re-establish a new logic of governance and political ethos as the pre-existing political order continues to be eroded, whether by design or by circumstances. Strong governance is difficult to pursue in a habitat of distrust. Institutional reforms and policy changes are easily challenged because government lacks legitimacy. Incessant distrust will ultimately hamper performance because the necessary capacity
to take risk and make innovations in order to rise to new challenges is absent. How to rebuild trust in the current period of political quagmire, to link up the political and policy worlds, is the most daunting task facing Hong Kong.
Date: 2009-10-23 (Fri)
Time: 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Venue: D1-LP-04, The Hong Kong Institute of Education (Tai Po Campus)
Registration: http://www.ied.edu.hk/cplectures/eng/index.php
About Professor Anthony B.L. CHEUNG
Professor Anthony B.L. Cheung, GBS, JP, is President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, carrying the concurrent title of Chair Professor of Public Administration.
Professor Cheung received his PhD degree in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, UK. He has written extensively on governance, privatization, civil service and public sector reforms, government and politics in Hong Kong and China, and Asian administrative reforms. His recent books are Governance and Public Sector Reform in Asia: Paradigm Shift or Business As Usual? (co-edited, RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), and Public Service Reform in East Asia: Reform Issues and Challenges in Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong (edited, Chinese University Press, 2005). He writes regular columns in the South China Morning Post, Ming Pao (in Chinese) and Hong Kong Economic Journal (in Chinese).
Professor Cheung is a Non-Official Member of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Chairman of the Consumer Council, Chairman of the Subsidized Housing Committee of the Housing Authority, member of the Greater Pearl River Delta Region Business Council, and member of the Board of Directors of The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited.
Professor Cheung is the founding chairman of the policy think-tank SynergyNet and a founding director of the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute. He is a former Member of the Legislative Council (1995-97) and former Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Party (1994-1998).
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