Publication

This paper analyzes political consciousness, political institutions and patterns of participation in Taiwan, Hong Kong and rural China, finding an overall strong democratic consciousness. The paper explores how deeply democratic values are imbued in the minds of Chinese citizens from these entities and what the nature of the political structures is for which elections are held. The paper argues that if political consciousness is high but institutions are weak or non-representative, citizens are more likely to use different informal political strategies to influence government policy.