Adaptation and Resilience: How Pro-democracy Protesters Respond to Autocratisation in Hong Kong

Abstract

Since the end of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) protests, Hong Kong has experienced rapid autocratisation. While many pro-democracy citizens had opted for exit and emigrated, even more had stayed. How do pro-democracy citizens in Hong Kong respond to the political changes? In what ways do they adapt to the new political environment? And to what extent are they holding onto their values and beliefs? To answer such questions, this article develops the concept of adaptive resilience, compares it with other possible responses to autocratisation, and specifies an approach to empirically differentiate among the various responses. It then utilises a survey of the Anti-ELAB protesters conducted in February 2023 to demonstrate the presence of adaptive resilience among this group of pro-democracy citizens. Specifically, former protesters exhibited a significant degree of adaptation to the changing political reality. Yet, adaptation is associated with critical judgments, pro-democracy values, value-expressive behaviours, the Hongkonger identity, and intention to remember the Anti-ELAB protests. The analysis also illustrates the role of social support – represented by social trust, network homogeneity, and frequency of social gatherings – in building adaptive resilience. Implications of the findings on democratic resilience in Hong Kong are discussed.