Public Administration in Hong Kong

"This book highlights the transition of Hong Kong from a government led by senior civil servants to another governed by a political executive body where ‘insiders’ and 'strangers' à la Heclo alternate. […] The writing style of the empirical sections is highly engaging. It offers a sequential account of governments and their imprint on the politico-administrative relations truffled with a rich selection of 18 case studies. These mini cases, guided by the theoretical approach and hypotheses laid out at the outset, are enriched by the intensive archival work and more than 100 interviews."

Salvador Parrado, Professor, National University of Distance Learning, UNED, Madrid, Spain.

"The confluence of the tides of politics and administration has long been a focus of academic endeavour. For too long, however, the scholarship on political-administrative relations has been dominated by those whose empirical concerns lie in the West. Wei Li’s Public Administration in Hong Kong – methodologically imaginative, theoretically expansive and empirically rich – is a much welcomed corrective. Drawing on a series of historical and contemporary policy cases, Li adapts classical public administration theories and models to explain the evolution of political-administrative relations in post-colonial Hong Kong. In so doing, she has produced a sophisticated, original analytical framework that will quickly become an essential item in the tool kit of those interested in what happens when canonical public administration theory is applied in non-Western, sub-national contexts."

Richard Shaw, Professor, Massey University, New Zealand.

"Based on 18 mini-policy-focused case studies and over 100 interviews with government and establishment insiders, Li Wei’s new book unpacks the relationship between political appointees and senior civil servants in the policy process of a local government of China. Using frameworks typically applied to Western democracies, Li demonstrates their utility in a non-Western context. Empirically rich and sensitive to the changing socio-economic and political context of Hong Kong the study focuses on a period of relative autonomy for the region (1997-2012) and assesses the impact of the regime and structural changes. Li shows that with these changes, senior civil servants, still influential, no longer dominate the policy process. The book is of interest to public administration scholars, practitioners, and students."

John P. Burns, Honorary Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.