Open society and its enemies: East european lessons for Hong Kong

Is Hong Kong’s democratic transition doomed? This paper examines the challenges that Hong Kong has to face in its fight for democracy under Chinese sovereignty and critically evaluates the state of the democracy movement since the 2014 Umbrella Movement. With reference to the works on civil society and the democratic opposition in the former Communist regimes, the predicaments of Hong Kong’s clamour for democracy will be analysed from a comparative perspective in order to explore options for the civil society as a change agent. The author submits that it is perhaps more important now than ever for Hong Kong to defend the moral foundations of the open society against an increasingly hard-line policy and to promote higher standards and norms of governance to keep Hong Kong distinct from the rest of China. In doing so, Hong Kong needs not succumb to self-fulfilling prophecies, which would result in hopelessness and capitulation.