From Repression to Attrition

Abstract

The Umbrella Movement displayed an unprecedented spectacle of resistance and brought Hong Kong under worldwide attention. This chapter demonstrates how the city’s hybrid regime adaptively switched its response to this protest from repression to attrition, after police repression catalyzed heightened mobilization. This strategy of attrition entailed an array of defensive and offensive tactics that extended beyond ignoring protests. By switching to this strategy, the regime actively sought to maintain elite cohesion and block political opportunities while leveraging countermovements and legal interventions to increase the participation cost of the protests and mobilize public discontent. Despite resistance from protesters, the success of attrition suggests its potential use by hybrid regimes as an effective regime response and a flexible holder of tactics.