Democracy for Prosperity: How Political Elites Interpreted "One Country, Two Systems" for Hong Kong SAR, 1979-2007

In 1984, Britain and the People's Republic of China agreed to transfer sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. In doing so, they also announced to the world a specially tailored administrative system designed to preserve Hong Kong's unique status vis-à-vis Mainland China. This system, called "One Country, Two Systems" (OCTS), has been formally enshrined in the Basic Law, the de facto constitution of Hong Kong, and realized in practice as a special administrative region (SAR). But as a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong has been rocked by a number of dramatic political developments that befuddle many an outside observer. Society and state have clashed over key elements of Hong Kong's constitutional framework on multiple occasions, and thus far it appears that the state has won. This begs the grounding question for this thesis: what exactly is OCTS? I will answer this question by examining how relevant political elites have conceptualized, defined, interpreted, and implemented OCTS in Hong Kong between the years 1979 and 2007 by way of a textual thematic analysis of elite-produced discourse discussing the rationale, design, and implementation of OCTS in Hong Kong. From my analysis, I shall make the argument that while the underlying impetus for China's resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong was indeed fueled by nationalistic sentiments largely derived from the perceived injustices of the "unequal treaties," the prevailing political and economic context of the early transition period (1979-82) within China resulted in a dovetailing of economic concerns with that of maintaining sovereignty in Hong Kong. This combined objective would end up figuring prominently within the design philosophy of OCTS.