Cross-boundary Governing Network in the Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta Region: Case Study on the Development of Adjoining Areas between Hong Kong and Shenzhen

This research aims to explore the underlying relationship between the territorial economic activity and political/institutional response, the formation process and dynamic mechanisms of the government-led institutional integration process within the cross-boundary region. In order to achieve this, a conceptual framework of "Cross-Border/Boundary Governing Network (CBGN)" is developed. The "economic territorialization" and "state capacity" are two crucial notions to understand the conceptual framework, in which the government plays the bridging actor between two meso-networks (i.e. the systematic state community and the intra-territorial network). Characterized by the unique "One Country Two Systems" framework, the empirical study on the evolving process of CBGN in Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region (hereafter HK-PRD region) and two city-level cases on the adjoining area (Lok Ma Chau Loop area and Qianhai area) has the following major findings. First, from the perspective of the relation between CBGN and economic integration, the multi-level government-led institutional arrangement in HK-PRD region has been a kind of the competent political response for blending a collective state capacity to facilitate the economic integration, which is the evolving process of the state capacity (executivity and autonomy) of related governments. Second, from the perspective of the state capacity configuration, the province-level systematic state community has been a more competent inter-government platform to facilitate resource-dependency and discourse strategies, based on the enhanced state capacity of Guangdong Provincial Government since the late 1990s. Nevertheless, the Central Government still dominates the economic prioritized territorialization and the related rescaling of state autonomy, especially relevant to Hong Kong and crucial functions. Third, from the perspective of the state-society relation in the intra-territorial network, the asymmetry in the realization of state capacity and the government role between the intra-territorial networks of Hong Kong and PRD region has a significant influence on the operation process within the systematic state community. Fourth, from the perspective of operation process within the CBGN, the CBGN has been a major purposeful opportunity pool for achieving the prioritized territorialization for sub-national governments in the PRD region by developing related discourse strategies. During the operation process, the key politicians with a special relationship (career or personnel) with the top authority, play a more proactive role.