Abstract
Hong Kong’s status as a Special Administrative Region of China has engendered considerable interest in its political development. Outside observers and Hong Kong people alike generally consider that greater democratization will mean greater autonomy and less democracy will mean more control by Beijing. This observation is founded on an appreciation of the fundamental role democratization plays in constitutionalism. Understanding the Hong Kong political reform debate is therefore important to understanding the emerging status of both Hong Kong and China. The Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Hong Kong Basic Law appear to require liberal human rights protection, the rule of law, and democratic rule in Hong Kong.1 This chapter considers the politics of constitutional interpretation in Hong Kong and its relationship to developing democracy and sustaining Hong Kong’s highly regarded rule of law.
Professor Davis would like to thank the Northwestern University Law School which hosted him as the J. Landis Martin Visting Professor of Law in 2005-6 during the preparation of this manuscript.
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Notes
See Michael C. Davis, “Constitutionalism under Chinese Rule: Hong Kong after the Handover,” Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 27 no. 2 (1999): 275–312;
Hsin-chi Kuan and Siu-Kai Lau, “Political Attitudes in a Changing Context,” in Social Development and Political Change in Hong Kong, ed. Siu-kai Lau (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2000);
Ming Sing, Hong Kong’s Tortuous Democratization: A Comparative Analysis (London: Routledge Curzon, 2004).
See Michael C. Davis, Constitutional Confrontation in Hong Kong (London: Macmillan Press, 1990).
See Johannes Chan and Lison Harris, eds., Hong Kong’s Constitutional Debates (Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Centre for Comparative and Public Law, 2005).
See Hualing Fu, Carole J. Petersen, and Simon N. M. Young, National Security and Fundamental Freedoms: Hong Kong’s Article 23 under Scrutiny (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005).
Stephen Holmes, “Precommitment and the Paradox of Democracy,” in Constitutionalism and Democracy, ed. Jon Elster and Rune Slagstad (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 195–240;
Bruce Ackerman, We the People: Foundations (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991);
Alexander M. Bickel, The Least Dangerous Branch, The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986).
Jon Elster, “Constitution-Making in Eastern Europe: Rebuilding the Boat in the Open Sea,” Public Administration 71 (1993): 169–201, at 173.
See Michael C. Davis, “Adopting International Standards of Human Rights in Hong Kong,” in Human Rights and Chinese Values, ed. Michael C. Davis (Oxford University Press, 1995); see also Petersen, Chapter 2 of this volume.
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© 2007 Hualing Fu, Lison Harris, and Simon N. M. Young, eds.
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Davis, M.C. (2007). Interpreting Constitutionalism and Democratization in Hong Kong. In: Fu, H., Harris, L., Young, S.N.M. (eds) Interpreting Hong Kong’s Basic Law: The Struggle for Coherence. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230610361_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230610361_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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