AHS Comparative Government

A significant number of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have concluded that the territory will never be fully democratic as long as it remains part of China. Accordingly, some pro-democracy activists have begun to call publicly for the territory's independence from China. Such statements are theoretically legal in Hong Kong: the territory's residents enjoy far more political freedom than other Chinese citizens.

Two well-known pro-independence activists, however, were involved in a violent Hong Kong street protest two years ago. This week, they were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for their misconduct. The sentences they received were far longer than those meted out to the many other young people involved in the protests, and were clearly intended to discourage other activists from publicly advocating independence for the territory:

https://www.economist.com/china/2018/06/16/a-lengthy-jail-term-sends-a-message-to-hong-kongs-rebellious-youth

An essay in this week's issue of The Economist examines the reasons for the decline of democracy globally over the last decade:

https://www.economist.com/international/2018/06/16/after-decades-of-triumph-democracy-is-losing-ground

In China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 45.2% of the population is Uyghur, while 40.6% of the population is Han Chinese. The Uyghurs are a Central Asian ethnic group. They speak a Turkic language; most practice Sufi Islam (a branch of Sunni Islam). Several Uyghur separatist groups have operated in Xinjiang in the past decade; some have carried out acts of violence against Chinese officials and Chinese troops stationed in the region. In July 2009, mobs of Uyghurs attacked Han Chinese residents of Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital; several days later, gangs of Han Chinese attacked Uyghur Urumqi residents. According to the Chinese government, 197 people were killed in the Urumqi riots; Uyghur exile groups contend that the actual death toll was far higher.

In recent decades, the Chinese government has resettled hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese in Xinjiang, in order to tie the region more closely to the rest of China. (Sixty-five years ago, less than 10% of the population of Xinjiang was Han Chinese). In many parts of Xinjiang, Han Chinese residents live in settlements separate from the towns and villages where the Uyghurs (and other residents of Central Asian ancestry) live. The Han settlements have their own schools, hospitals, police forces and courts; each settlement also has its own militia, which helps ensure the authority of the Chinese government in the region.

Moreover, according to The Economist, since 2016

the [Xinjiang] provincial government has vastly increased the money and effort it puts into controlling the activities and patrolling the beliefs of the Uighur population. Its regime is racist, uncaring and totalitarian, in the sense of aiming to affect every aspect of people's lives. It has created a fully-fledged police state. And it is committing some of the most extensive, and neglected, human rights violations in the world.

"China Has Turned Xinjiang into a Police State Like No Other." The Economist, 2 June 2018, pp. 19-22, https://www.economist.com/briefing/2018/05/31/china-has-turned-xinjiang-into-a-police-state-like-no-other. Accessed 5 June 2018.

In Iran, the government regulates personal behavior very strictly. Unmarried men and women may only socialize if they are properly chaperoned. Women must wear headscarves in public, and must wear clothes that cover their entire bodies (except for their hands and faces). Popular music and dancing are forbidden, and drinking alcohol is punishable by public flogging.

Nonetheless, as an article in Sunday's New York Times makes clear, these restrictions are frequently (if discreetly) flouted:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/02/world/middleeast/iran-taboos-parties-alcohol.html