1st Edition
The Legitimacy Trap Politics, Law and Society in China’s Hong Kong
Foreword by Professor Sarah Biddulph
Foreword by James Spigelman AC KC
Preface and Acknowledgments
Table of Abbreviations
Terminology and Referencing
I. Introduction
1. The legitimacy trap
2. Legitimacy in politics, law and society
3. The shaping of China’s Hong Kong
4. Legitimacy and crisis in Hong Kong
II. Dealing with fringe opposition
5. Protecting state symbols
6. Combating unruly protest
III. Dealing with mainstream opposition
7. Constraining peaceful protest
8. Curating public discourse
IV. Restricting political freedoms
9. Regulating conduct in public office
10. Limiting access to public office
V. Restricting civil freedoms
11. Declaring emergency
12. Securitising the state
VI. Conclusions
13. Hong Kong’s fate
14. Avoiding the legitimacy trap
Index
Biography
Brendan Clift is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales. He holds a PhD in law from the University of Melbourne, master’s degrees in law and journalism (each with distinction) from the University of Hong Kong, and an arts/law double degree (majoring in history and politics) from Macquarie University. He is admitted to legal practice in Australia. Brendan lived in Hong Kong from 2006 to 2017, working there as a publisher, journalist, lawyer, and university teacher.
'An important intervention into the burgeoning literature on democratic backsliding and authoritarian legality. It provides a masterful and multifaceted account of the ways legitimacy both underpins and is implicated in these processes.'
Professor Sarah Biddulph, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne
