Dissertation

A Special Territory: Visions of Hong Kong and its People

On Tuesday 14 January 2025 Milan Ismangil successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Author: M.S. Ismangil
Date: 14 January 2025
Links: Leiden Repository

This thesis starts with two broad questions: What is Hong Kong, and who are its people? Despite its status as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong presents itself with distinct attributes akin to a nation-state, evident in its autonomous governance, unique currency, educational system, and visa regulations. Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire that was handed over to the PRC in 1997. The PRC heralded this as a return to the motherland, but many in Hong Kong looked at this course of events with trepidation. Growing unrest after the handover grew into large-scale social movements stemming from frustration with the pace of democratic reforms that many considered were promised to the Hong Kong people, as well as a growing concern for integration and possibly assimilation with the PRC. Through an analysis of different works I argue that the case of Hong Kong shows the underlying power of social theory to shape actions. It is therefore imperative that academics not only deconstruct existing political structures but also aim to construct alternatives.

Supervisor: Prof.dr. F.A. Schneider
Co-supervisor: Prof.dr. M. van Crevel