The political economy of public sector reform in Hong Kong: The case of a colonial-developmental state

Abstract

This article studies the political economy of administrative reform in Hong Kong. My thesis is that in many contemporary states including Hong Kong, critical administrative re-structuring is a crucial part of re-structuring in state-economy relations. I argue that there are generalizable similarities as well as important contrasts in the significance of reforms between Hong Kong and western liberal democracies. In both cases, critical administrative reforms were driven by the dynamic interplay of economic and political factors. On the other hand, the significance of the reforms cannot be understood apart from the different modes of their capitalist economy and the different state forms that are developed to complement them. Largely, a 'developmental state' form has complemented the economic development of Hong Kong, and re-constructing its historical development is crucial to an accurate understanding of the significance of administrative re-structuring in Hong Kong. Henceforth, I shall examine the public sector reform programme in Hong Kong in the 1990s, focusing particularly on the programmes delineated in two official documents, Public Sector Reform (Finance Branch, 1989) and Serving the Community (Efficiency Unit, 1995). I conclude with an alternative account for such institutional innovations: that economic changes and the decolonization process have interacted to trigger demands for a more interventionist state and shatter the pragmatic basis of legitimacy of the colonial-developmental state. In the absence of the possibility of political reform and drastic changes in the economic and fiscal policies, administrative reform becomes the only way for the state to enhance its own legitimacy and capacity.