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support of either China or Britain with the expectation that the
government will be forced to concede to their demands. Not
infrequently the government is frustrated by its fading autonomy.
Not surprisingly, a government suffering from declining autonomy
would not have the strong will to govern which is essential to
the exercise of effective rule.
(3) In order to entice the British parliament to accept the
Sino-British Joint Declaration and to muster popular support to
the colonial government in the remaining years of its rule, some
forms of political reforms in a power-sharing direction have been
introduced since the early 1980s. Nevertheless, due to the
hesitancy of the British government, the opposition of China and
the established interests, the indifference of the people and the
weakness of the pro-democratic forces, only a modicum of democratic reforms have been implemented.17 Nonetheless, even
though the government still retains enormous powers, its
decision-making prerogatives have been curtailed. Even though the
incorporation of elective elements into the political system does
not alter its executive-centered nature, it nonetheless has
subjected the government to more political constraints on its
actions. The increased level of political participation by the
people has created moderate public opinion pressure on the
government which it has to take into account. Most important of
all, the government's monopoly over the opportunities of political mobility has ended. Though far from dominant, the
electoral channel provides an alternative outlet for those with
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