The Autonomy of the Macau Special Administrative Region

“One country, two systems” as demonstrated by the cases of Hong Kong and Macau is, basically, a form (?) of organization to grant autonomy to a region within a sovereign unitary state. Two facts deserve mention when compared with other autonomic arrangements. Firstly, the degree of autonomy, at least in the formal legal sense, is very high, because it encompasses maters such as finances and taxes, monetary and currency issues, customs and economic external relations. Secondly, because this autonomy is quite innovative. It is not so much referred to ethnic, religious, linguistic or cultural differences within the same state, which is normal in other cases of autonomy in many parts of the world. Instead, this autonomy aims at allowing the functioning of a capitalist economy within a single party state, which legitimacy derives from communist ideas.