College - Author 1

College of Liberal Arts

Department - Author 1

Political Science Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BA in Political Science

Date

12-2014

Primary Advisor

Ning Zhang

Abstract/Summary

This paper examines the current civil unrest in Hong Kong to determine the underlying causes that are driving Occupy Central and its affiliates to pressure the Central Government in Beijing and the Hong Kong government for universal suffrage. Drawing upon data from the 2003, 2007, and 2010 Asian Barometer, there has been a gradual decline in the level of trust in the Legislative Council and Hong Kong government as the majority of Hong Kong residents have expressed increasing uncertainty about their future economic situation along with their continual distrust in the abilities of government officials to serve the public. From these findings, this paper discovered that the systemic shortage of affordable and safe housing coupled with systemic deficiencies in employment and income, rather than the sole lack of universal suffrage, may be some of the more probable factors driving the push for universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

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