Does politicized public service appointment strengthen political control over policy advice? The case of Hong Kong, China

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, a synthesized framework based on the policy advisory system (PAS) and the politics-administration (PA) dichotomy is applied to Hong Kong, a jurisdiction in transition from its previous status as a colony influenced by the Westminster system to a special administrative region of China. Based on interviews and questionnaire responses from policymakers and advisors in different structural positions of the PAS, the study finds that politicized public-service appointment has increased political control over the content of policy advice through three pathways: the selection of alternative policy advisors, the restructuring of sources of policy advice, and the opening-up of extant policy-advisory processes. Unlike in some non-Western and state-centered regimes, centralized political control in Hong Kong has both internalized and broadened the range of policy alternatives. The case of Hong Kong demonstrates that the dynamics of PA dichotomy provide pathways to policy advice politicization in the PAS, although the hybrid Westminster and Confucian traditions of Hong Kong shape the pathways toward, the degree, and the content of policy advice politicization. These findings affirm the PAS theory that the political-technical dimensions of policy advice do not fit neatly with the location or structural roles of policy actors.