TNAG-2450-FCO40-3567-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 54

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democratisation,

First,

there are

two

sides.

there are those who demand the

maximum immediate progress, appealing to

Hong Kong's obvious sophistication and

maturity, whether measured in terms of

economic achievement, educational standards,

Or any other index of development. Second,

have those who argue that every society

must develop its democratic institutions at

that to force the pace will

we

its own pace

put a strain

arrangements

in 1997.

on our unique constitutional

and make convergence difficult

CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Constraints on Progress

113.

I Owe it to the community to make

пу own position plain. I have spent my

entire career engaged in a political system

based on representative democracy. It would

be surprising if that had not marked me. It

I have always been moved by Isaiah

Berlin's description of democracy as "the

view that the promotion of social justice

individual liberty does not necessarily

mean the end of all efficient government;

has.

and

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