Hong Kong has recently experienced a large (tens of thousands of people strong) protest demanding for a law allowing residents to vote. Currently the Chief Executive in Hong Kong is appointed by a committee of approximately 1,200 pro-Beijing members, without any regard to a majority popular vote. Furthermore, police started using tear gas and pepper spray on the protesters, although, the protestors were offensively attempting to gain ground against the police. This reminded me two main things. First, the Arab Spring movement across many dictatorial regimes in the Middle East. While, second; a negative external market failure, in Hong Kong, caused by the protest.
Do you think this "pro-democratic," protest has similar roots to the Arab Spring uprisings?
Could the protests in Hong Kong lead to negative consequences for their economy? OR
Perhaps, maybe a surge for democracy is heading toward China? Thoughts?
http://online.wsj.com/articles/hong-kongs-pro-democracy-protesters-face-off-against-police-1411876944?mod=WSJ_hp_RightTopStories
I think that the Arab Spring was a little bit different of a situation, but still taught us the same message. In the past few years, we have seen a few examples of wide-spread protest due to a lack of popular representation in government. While the protests in Northern Africa/the Middle East were largely against dictators, the Hong Kong protests are against an established Communist regime. So, although the protests may identify with one another in wanting more popular representation, the results from these two events will probably be different.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested more in this issue, you should read Why Nations Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. Their thesis in this book is that governments and economies that are inherently exclusive, meaning they do not rely on all individuals, are destined for failure. In fact, the researchers find that most global inequality can be narrowed down to the historical inclusiveness/exclusiveness of a particular nation's government and economy. I can't help but thinking that the communist party in China is rather exclusive; like you said, the people of Hong Kong don't even elect their own Chief Executive! I think, especially as the earning gap increases between the young and the old, that the situation will reach a tipping point. I could see Hong Kong becoming more democratic, but not China (at least not for now.) Democracy, I believe, is eventually the answer for China but not until little pockets of protest eventually build up into a large movement.