Legitimacy without democracy? Sources of diffuse regime support in post-colonial Hong Kong

The resilience of non-democratic regimes in the past decades demonstrates that some authoritarian regimes have figured out ways to consolidate regime support without democratic elections. Hong Kong is a remarkable case of “legitimacy without democracy” as the system of government enjoyed a certain level of legitimacy since colonial days without being democratically elected. Using Hong Kong as a case and based on data from several waves of Asian Barometer Survey (ABS), this study analyzes the impact of citizens’ evaluation of the economic conditions, perception of freedoms, perceived procedural justice and institutional trust, and stability concerns on diffuse regime support in Hong Kong. There are three key findings of this study. First, economic performance is not a significant predictor of diffuse regime support in the case of Hong Kong, whereas, second, institutional trust and perceived civil liberties are. Finally, we found indirect evidence for the role of stability in shaping regime support, although its importance seems far less important than institutional trust and civil liberties.