Lau Siu-kai is Professor in Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Associate Director of its Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies

Since the Second World War Hong Kong’s development has been characterized not only by income inequality but, oddly enough, by economic growth and political stability. In an era when widespread poverty and rampant political disorder are sources of failure in many developing countries, Hong Kong’s performance is both spectacular and exceptional. Society and Politics in Hong Kong is a systematic, structural analysis of Hong Kong’s post-War society and the politics which underlie her economic miracle. Political stability in Hong Kong is succinctly explained in terms of both a resourceful, “self-sufficient” Chinese society whose demands upon the government are limited, and of a government which chooses to minimize its public functions and its involvement in the Chinese society. This state of affairs is made possible by a fortuitous constellation of factors, among which the most prominent is the continuous economic prosperity of Hong Kong.