A review of public administration research in Hong Kong and Macau, 2010‒2019

After the return of Hong Kong and Macao to China in 1997 and 1999, respectively, the socio-political conditions of the two cities have drawn the close attention of academics and practitioners in the field of public administration. China granted both cities the status of Special Administrative Regions (SARs) under the political arrangement of “one country, two systems.” This status confers a high degree of autonomy and separate legal, administrative, and judicial systems. Hong Kong and Macau have since gone through significant transitional changes, marked by a series of political activities and movements that appear to have significantly impacted the focus of public administration research in the two jurisdictions. This article presents an overview of public administration research conducted on Hong Kong and Macau, reviewing 782 articles published from 2010 to 2019. The findings reveal significant development trends in, and differences between, the two cities. References to earlier work are made throughout the paper to compare and contrast the changes in public administration research over time, thereby providing readers with useful insights into the longitudinal intellectual development on the SARs.