Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
The phenomenon of liberal regions within illiberal states raises intriguing questions. Why would illiberal rulers allow such regions to exist? How can the - likely acute - dissonance amongst conflicting political ideological forces be managed to avoid a collapse into unitarism or separatism? Yet, despite the phenomenon's academic and practical value, it remains underexplored. This project will be the first in-depth comparative study of the phenomenon, examining the constitutional challenges such regions face and possible solutions thereto. It will have two parts.
The first will contribute to concept and theory building by comparing four historical or contemporary examples of or parallels to the phenomenon: Hong Kong under China's "one country, two systems" model, Finland in Tsarist Russia, regions in Northern Mexico prior to national democratisation, and Denmark under Nazi administration. It will distil what, if anything, is distinctive about the constitutional challenges confronting a territorial configuration with a substate polity that is substantially more liberal than the illiberal state polity (hereinafter, the liberal in illiberal structure or "LII Structure" for short), constitutional devices for addressing those challenges, and hypotheses on the factors contributing to the LII Structure's endurance.
The second part will look to the aforesaid comparative study to glean lessons for the "one country, two systems" model in Hong Kong, guaranteed for 50 years until 2047 under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The turbulent events Hong Kong experienced in 2019-2021 - large-scale anti-government protests followed by the introduction of a national security law and electoral overhaul - revealed both centripetal and centrifugal pressures on the model. Whilst there have been numerous studies of the model, I will be the first to draw on comparative experiences of the LII Structure to gain deeper understanding of its strengths and vulnerabilities and how it can potentially be sustained.
The project promises both theoretical and practical impact. Theoretically, it will contribute to scholarship on liberal spaces in authoritarian states (focusing on the territorial dimension) and central-local relations (revealing the challenges posed by this type of ideological-territorial cleavage and the potential and limits of various constitutional designs in managing them). Practically, the project will reveal the LII Structure's potential for resolving political disputes. Furthermore, its findings will contribute to understanding of the prospects for sustaining Hong Kong's liberal status under Chinese rule - and ways to strengthen those prospects - as the two jurisdictions enter the second half of the Joint Declaration's 50-year timeframe.
在非自由國家內存在自由地區這個現象引起了一些有趣的問題：為何不自由國家的領導人會容許自由地區的存在？在國家與地區政治意識形態衝突之間，該如何處理這種可能劇烈的不協調，以避免陷入一體化或分離主義？儘管這一現象具有學術和實際價值，目前很少相關深入的研究。這個項目將是首個深入探討此議題的比較研究，檢視這些地區面對的憲法問題以及潛在解決這些問題的方法。研究項目將分爲兩部分。第一部分將舉出數個歷史或當代例子以作概念和理論構建。這部分將從這些例子中歸納出當某地區政體遠比國家政體自由（處於「非自由下的自由」結構）時，該地區所面對獨特的憲法問題、應對這些問題的方法，以及有關不同因素影響「非自由下的自由」結構持久性的假設。 第二部分將基於上述比較研究，為香港的「一國兩制」模式提供啟示。該模式在中英聯合聲明下被保證50年不變、直至2047年。但香港在近年經歷的動蕩事件揭示了「一國兩制」模式面臨的向心力和離心力。儘管現時已有許多關於「一國兩制」的研究，我將首度透過比較國際間「非自由下的自由」結構的經驗深入了解此結構的優勢和脆弱性，以及維持此結構的潛在方法。 這個項目在理論和實踐層面上都具有影響力。在理論層面上，這個項目將有助研究非民主體制中的自由空間，同時，也有助研究中央與地方關係。在實踐層面上，該項目將揭示「非自由下的自由」結構在解決政治爭端方面的潛力。此外，研究結果有助於理解香港作為中國的一部分在未來保持自由狀態的可能性，以及如何增加這種可能性。
|
