This thesis studies the transformation of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) in response to the environmental challenges during 1992-2002. Various political, institutional and socio-economic stimuli forced DAB to transform. In order to adapt to the competitive pluralistic environment in Hong Kong, DAB transformed its ideology, electoral strategy and organizational structure to win the support of the Hong Kong people so as to curb the influence of the democrats. However, the main obstacle for the DAB's transformation is that DAB is not an autonomous party. The status as a satellite organization constrains the choice of transformation of DAB. With the rising political aspiration of the Hong Kong people, political stimuli will constitute the main challenge of DAB...[ Read more ]

This thesis studies the transformation of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) in response to the environmental challenges during 1992-2002. Various political, institutional and socio-economic stimuli forced DAB to transform. In order to adapt to the competitive pluralistic environment in Hong Kong, DAB transformed its ideology, electoral strategy and organizational structure to win the support of the Hong Kong people so as to curb the influence of the democrats. However, the main obstacle for the DAB's transformation is that DAB is not an autonomous party. The status as a satellite organization constrains the choice of transformation of DAB. With the rising political aspiration of the Hong Kong people, political stimuli will constitute the main challenge of DAB ahead and its political orientation is crucial to its continual survival. However, due to the constraints of its pro-China and pro-HKSAR government position, DAB does not show a lot of innovation. It relies on the same strategy as it did to shed the negative image of pro-China label when the party first established in 1992 to respond to the environment.