The politics of Hong Kong have been being in turmoil since the handover of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China. Some waves of social unrests were led by disputes, such as the recent controversy on copyright (amendment) bill 2014 and the pro-vice-chancellor selection of University of Hong Kong, due to mistreatments of government or establishment to relative matters, or triggered by the disagreement between authority and the people, for example, the intensified sino-Hong Kong integration measures or the democratic development, like universal suffrage and directly elected Legislative Council.

These controversies lead to civil disorders, often in the form of protests like the umbrella movement or annual 1 July protests, which may furthered the social fragmentation, therefore, stimulated and encouraged countermovements, for instance, the “blue ribbon” movement corresponding to the “yellow ribbon”, the symbol of the umbrella movement last year. The protests have been playing a very important role in Hong Kong politics, so, theories are required to interpret social movements, and therefore, to make any good and effective use of or understand the political reality of Hong Kong.

After the umbrella movement, the way of protest reforms. The resources or organisation which held the protest are less considered than before, for example, in the protests against parallel trading, the ideology or the political consciousness played equivalent roles as resources and organisations in many cases. Political process approach recognises and values the significance of not only the resources and organisations, but also the political consciousness of the society in a civil unrest, the decision made not only by the protest leaders, but also the participants as well as the response of government and police, and considers influences on other movements, then judges the success or failure of the social movement. It involves three key concepts.

First, the organisational readiness includes the organisation resources of potential movement members who are associated with the organisation, for example, being a party member, receive information from the organisation or individuals through social media like Facebook, Twitter, or forums. Communication network is also a very important channel through which the member can share and receive information and news, contact with each other, such as social media a mentioned, as well as instant messaging applications like Whatsapp, Firechat and Telegram used during the umbrella movement and the latter protests. Leader with skill, knowledge, along with a good reputation with the public is vital to success of a movement, for example, provides confidence or represents the member on the bargaining, like the leaders of Hong Kong Federation of Students in the time at the umbrella movement.

The cognitive liberation, is ‘the transformation in the beliefs of an aggrieved population such that people collectively come to redefine existing relations and see a potential to significantly restructure political, economic, or social relations’ by the definition of W.Lawrence Neuman, means the change of the beliefs and ideas of people which may lead to realise the unjust or unpleasant act of the government, then trigger them to rise against the mistreatment. Hong Kong society has been being anxious after the handover. The Hong Konger have realised the injustice and afraid of being deprived of freedom, therefore, civil unrest have been more and more frequent. For examples, the protest against the national education was the result of the recognition of the brainwash in the syllabus, the protest against the copyright bill amendment was the result of the recognition of the deprivation of freedom of speech.

Political opportunity structure is the time and environment under which the relative balance of political power between government and protesters shifts which provides openings for the protesters, in the ways like, the split of the social elites, like the legal professions during many protests; new opportunities to join with other social class, like the protest against the national education were joined by many other social classes than parents and students; tactical innovation for new and effective tactics to express their demands, such as occupying main streets in many protests, the sarcastic parade held against the mainlanders in Tsim Sha Tsui.

PP approach offers a different point of view than the traditional organisation theories, suggested that different actors act during the whole process of organising social movement, rather than a single leader throughout the movement. And also suggested that social movements are not necessarily ‘solidaristic, coherent groups’ with 'a continuous, self-contained life history’, but a network of people acted collectively in a sustained period of time to achieve a changing goal. PP also offers a way to evaluate a social movement and the organisation of it, and to perceive, recognise, and improve social movements of Hong Kong in the future.