Pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong took to the streets earlier this week in protest of the financial hub’s future as either an enclave of freedom or another communist-controlled city. The protest was sparked by anger over China 's refusal to allow the open selection of candidates for Hong Kong 's leader in the city 's first democratic election scheduled for 2017. Contrary to the pre-specified agreement, a panel of Beijing supporters will pick two or three candidates to run. At stake in this contentious issue is not just the election but also the future of the former British colony as a semiautonomous city and the prospect of the pro-democracy movement spreading to the mainland.
Hong Kong has a long tradition of peaceful-nonviolent protest, dating back to the outburst of grief and sorrow following the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, and
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In theory, Hong Kong is expected to be moving toward full democracy, with the city’s chief executive to be elected by universal suffrage in 2017. Simultaneously, Hong Kong is presumed to be integrating and assimilating with the rest of …show more content…
Police in Hong Kong appear to have sacrificed decades of goodwill with the citizenry; their mandate having clearly changed from one of supporting freedom of expression to acting as a tool of an increasingly repressive and authoritarian government that seems committed to rule by law, rather than the rule of law. Objectively, Hong Kong appears to be ready for democratic rule. It is China that is not ready for a democratically governed Hong Kong it fears it cannot totally
The 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in China or the June Fourth Incident was one of the most famous student protests in the world’s history. The Massacre took place on June 4th 1989 – the last day of a series of pro-democracy demonstrations around Tiananmen Square beginning from April 14. The Tiananmen protest ended in tragic failure and bloodbath as the Chinese state decided to put down the protest with a martial law. At last, army troops and tanks were sent to take control of the city and were ordered to clear the square by firing at the crowd of protesters. The number of deaths has been a matter of controversy over the world until now, which ranges from several hundreds to thousands. In spite of the massiveness and the great influence of the protest, June Fourth was a great failure of civil disobedience because of its lack of organization and the dominant power of the Chinese dictatorial government.
As expected, the police force is the main arm entrusted with the powers to ensure peace, order, and justice in society. For this very reason, the police need to maintain a high sense of respect and hesitation of law and policies that defend the wellbeing of the citizens and a country in general. However, when the police misbehave in a way that makes the normal citizen realize that the police broke the law, the citizens are most likely to reduce their cooperative behaviors towards the police (Harris, 2009, p.26). Because of this, the conflict between citizens and police officers hinders the officers’ ability to do their job to their full potential. In the United States, one of the most prominent police misconducts is the use of excessive force in handling citizens (Micucci & Gomme, 2005, p. 488). The trend has been around in the U.S. for decades now, and
Hong Kong Reading - "The Book of the Year" Through imperialism, British rule encouraged industrialization and modernization which led to visible growth in the economy as the city is described as a trade center and important in manufacturing and banking, which suggests that the industries and businesses prospered. Additionally, the fear of Chinese rule suggests that businesses operated better under British rule, which shows how imperialism improved the lives of the people of Hong Kong compared to the government before imperial rule. The way that citizens of Hong Kong left the colony before it was returned to China further highlights the different effects of British rule and Chinese rule on the people, suggesting that British rule was preferred by the citizens of Hong Kong which is why they left rather than live under Chinese rule. This implies that the colonized people considered Great Britain’s imperialist rule to be better than the government before which was Chinese. This demonstrates that imperialism improved the lives of the colonized people because it helped the economy grow and prosper.
China is the largest developing country in today’s world and the rapid growth of the Chinese economy has attracted attention from all over the world. Some people falsely think that China is a country that China is only pursuing their economic reform, but without any democratic changes. On the contrary, China actually has a long history of democratic reforms. China has a different way of democratic reform that different from western-style democracy, which made Westerners think China is a powerful country with limitations in democracy. However, my point of view is that China is not limiting their democratic change, and China is utilizing a distinctive form of democracy.
Hong Kong has always remained a very unique city, one which is said to have ‘a Western past, an Eastern future’. Since its colonisation by the British in the 1860s, it has maintained to a very large extent its Chinese identity and its connection to its Motherland, while at the same time, has frequent contact with the Western world, politically, economically, and culturally. Hong Kong’s unique position has made the city a vibrant international metropolis that acts as a bridge between East and West. Yet after it was returned to China in 1997, this former British colony has been constantly reassessing its British past, struggling to find its new position and redefining its identity.
Skogan, W., Meares, T. (2004) ‘Lawful Policing’ The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 66 (18)
...u- nist states, China remains unified under a CCP-Ied state that is ever vigilant not only againstwestern attempts at "xihua" China- thatis, imposingwesternliber- al-democratic institutions on China, but also "fenhua" China - that is, disinte- gratingitbysupportingTaiwaneseindependenceoranyforms ofethnonationalist independent movement. The reform period starting in 1978 marked a dramatic rearticulation of class and nation in the political economy of Chinese development, and along with it, a radical reorientation of the class nature of Chinese nationalism and the devel- opment of a depoliticized neoliberal cultural politics of class and nation. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and commercialized media - with TV at its core, but soon followed by computers and cell phones - have played instrumental roles in these processes (Zhao and Schiller 2001, Hong
The topic of democracy in China is a highly controversial topic. Although China has not democratised, it has done well in the global situation amongst its democratic competitors. Since the path to democracy is different for each country, we cannot expect that China would follow the same path or same model of democracy as the western nations. This essay will look at what democracy is and how it can be placed in a Chinese context as well as looking at the proponents and opponents of democracy in China. It will also look at whether China is democratising by focusing on village elections, globalisation and the emergence of a civil society. These specific topics were chosen because they will help provide good evidence and arguments to the topic of democratisation in China. The main argument in this essay will be that although China is implementing some changes that can be seen as the beginning of a road to democracy, there contribution should not be over estimated. China still has a long way to go before it can be considered that it is democratising. The small changes are good but China still has a long road ahead of itself to achieve democracy.
Members of The United Nations have a duty “to maintain international peace…in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.”[1] China, a core member of the United Nations since its formation in 1945, fails to comply with international human rights’ norms set forth by The United Nations Charter. This failure is noticeably prevalent in the practices of the Chinese Legal System. Its judicial proceedings in handling peaceful, political dissenters fail to provide the minimum protection of human rights guaranteed to all through international law. By examining accounts of Tibetans detained for such peaceful protests, this paper will set out to highlight the discrepancies between Chinese enforcement of international law in theory and in practice. Before this paper goes any further, the notion of international law must be explained. Providing a better understanding of international law will make easier the task of highlighting China’s struggles with enforcing such standards.
Police corruption is a nationwide problem that has been going on for many years. Not only is corruption a problem on our own U.S. soil, but police practices of corruption go as far east as Europe and Asia. Many studies, polls and examinations were taken to find out how exactly what the general publics’ opinions of the police are. Officers receive a lot of scrutiny over this issue, but for good reason.
Lieberthal, Kenneth (2003). Governing China: From Revolution to Reform. New York City: W.W.Norton and Company
... if we are to disregard Luciani’s deconstruction of the concept of modernity as explored above – which casts doubt over what it means to be modern – it is clear that even in Lipset's terms, modern day China is a testament to the failure of modernization's teleology. As yet, there are no signs of burgeoning political freedom or free elections despite the rising power of the country and the very real probability that it may soon challenge America's coveted 'last remaining superpower' status. Despite the superficial presence of MacDonald's, it remains fundamentally unrecognizable to Western eyes, and there seems to be little chance of it turning to democracy, so long as the regime continues to exercise authoritarian rule by denying a culture of openness in purported favour of one of ‘collective security’.
Police force has always been an indispensible appendage of the state organization in almost all the civil societies of the world. Of late the duties of
Political Accountability is regarded a necessary condition for all political systems, and can be defined as “a process of being called to account to some authority for one’s actions and involves both answerability and taking responsibility”.
With examples like Singapore, China hopes to maintain its current situation. Zakaria writes, “Their role model is former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Lee achieved the dream of every strongmen: to modernize the economy, even the society, of his country, but not the politics” (85). Ironically, Zakaria feels Chinese officials should return to the teachings of Karl Marx for help. He writes, “Marx understood that when a country modernizes its economy, embraces capitalism, and creates a bourgeoisie, the political system will change to reflect that transformation” (Zakaria, 87). Zakaria holds hope that the leaders will come around and accept the inevitability of China eventually becoming a liberal democracy. All of those involved, realize that that process will be a long and strenuous one because hardly any leader ever gives up his power willingly.