United Front, Clientelism, and Indirect Rule: Theorizing the Role of the “Liaison Office” in Hong Kong

Abstract

United front organizations in Hong Kong have evolved into a form of patron-client network, with the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Liaison Office) assuming the role of the patron. Possessing the capacity to penetrate into the community and offer patronage goods, these organizations have become the basis for the Liaison Office to build a political machine, discipline elites and maintain their cohesion, control the executive, and counterbalance civil society. The closely knit clientelist network functions as a para-party machinery, supporting the Liaison Office to operate as a quasi-ruling party. On the other hand, immense social resentment has culminated over the Chinese party-state’s (party-state’s) infringement on the autonomy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).