From Electoral Democracy to National Governance - Paradigm Transformation of Political Development in Hong Kong

"From Electoral Democracy to National Governance - Paradigm Transformation of Political Development in Hong Kong", written by Wang Heng, a lecturer at the School of Marxism Studies of Renmin University of China, was selected. This article draws out the paradigm of Western-style liberal democracy and discourse, such as "democratization", "democratic transformation" and "competitive election", analyses the achievements and problems in the process of political development during past two decades ranging from the grand political development to the reality of national governance and brings out the solutions and suggestions of Hong Kong’s "political development myth" from paradigm shift, institutional reform and policy orientation.

On the political development of Hong Kong since 1997, Wang Heng believes that we have made great achievements, while real problems and conflicts such as "pan-politics", "populism", "local separatism", "vetoism" and "street politics" still exist, which profoundly reflects the theoretical defects and practical difficulties of electoral democracy paradigm. As a product of the British "colonial retreat" strategy, Hong Kong's political development ideas with constitutive democracy as a paradigm, are essentially "universal myth", which seriously obscures the importance of effective governance. In view of the future political development of Hong Kong, Wang Heng believes that the theoretical transformation and policy shift from electoral democracy to state governance must be realized as soon as possible. The focus will have to shift from the static structure to the dynamic function, from institutional change to substantive effect. In the meantime, measures should be taken to establish values goals in line with national governance, realize the positive interaction among different governance entities, pursue the enhancement of governance system and governance capabilities to build positive political ecological environment featuring economy growth, democracy construction, general education and political mutual trust.