Bureaucratic Response to Political Change (out of stock)

This is an empirical study in the first instance. This is an atypical case and cannot be directly compared with other cases of police undergoing decolonization already covered in the literature. Unlike other former British colonies, Hong Kong will not gain independence but become a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997. Unlike the return of Taiwan to China by Japan in 1945 or the return of foreign concession areas in China to Chinese authorities at the end of the Second World War, Hong Kong will not be totally reintegrated with socialist China but allowed to retain its capitalist system and some degree of autonomy for fifty years. Thus, Hong Kong is a mixed and unique case, which nevertheless can be used to test and generate theoretical hypotheses on how a public bureaucracy copes with structural political change. Three models of police operation are discussed: colonization, decolonization/democratization, and a mixed model. The issues compared include role of police in sustaining political order, control and oversight of the police, basis of allocation of authority and sustenance of morale, communication link, political control exerted by the police over the public, and use of resources. While the intent of the public bureaucracy may have been to protect its own organizational interests, the unintended consequence of its actions may have greater political implications. The stronger the police is as an organization, the better it will be as a political tool. Increased coercive capabilities may be effectively used to enhance Hong Kong's autonomy, or abused to support the continuation of colonization or recolonization in Hong Kong's reintegration with greater China.