回歸前後的香港，在政治上經歷了很多變化。這些政治上的變化不期然地也影響了香港的公民教育的發展。本文嘗試比較回歸前後香港公民教育的發展及其政治變遷的相互關係，尤其側重介紹回歸以後香港公民教育的狀況，包括課程發展、學校實施公民教育的情況、香港學生的公民觀、香港人對公民身份認同的變化，並以社會資本角度的反思作結。本文得出的結論是香港市民對香港是有歸屬感的，但不太有安全感；他們會參與社會的網路組織，有一定的社會參與，但限於傳統性的公民活動（例如選舉）和社會性的活動，較少參與政治性的公民活動；同時，他們也存在一種公民無力感，尤其是政治無力感。
Hong Kong has experienced substantial changes in its political circumstances before and after the handover. These political changes have had much impact on the development of civic education. This paper attempts to compare the development of civic education in Hong Kong before and after the handover, with a particular focus on the impact of changing political circumstances. Another focus of the paper is on the situations of civic education since its handover. This includes a review of the development of the civic education curricula, the implementation of civic education in school, student's concepts of citizenship, changes of civic identity among Hong Kong people, and the paper is concluded with a review from social capital perspectives. The paper concludes with an observation that Hong Kong people have a sense of belonging, but not much sense of security. They participate in social networks, but focus on conventional citizenship activities (such as voting) and socially oriented activities, rather than politically oriented activities. Socially, they feel they make some contributions to the society, but politically they also feel powerless.[Copyright of Journal of Youth Studies is the property of The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups at http://yrc.hkfyg.org.hk/]
