Author: Cheng Tongshun (Professor and Deputy Dean of the Department of Political Science, School of Management, Nankai University, Dean of the Research Institute of Nankai University, Deputy Director of the China Development Joint Research Center of Nankai University).
Whole-process people's democracy is the essential attribute of socialist democratic politics, and it is the most extensive, true, and effective democracy. Compared with Western democracy, which is increasingly confined to the election and referendum process, whole-process people's democracy is a full-chain, all-round, and all-encompassing democracy, which effectively overcomes the shortcomings and deficiencies of Western-style democracy, and is a transcendence and development of it, which has significant advantages.
Whole-process people's democracy has the upward guiding nature of value goals.
In a certain sense, democracy is embodied in the ownership of the people within the country, and in the inter-state context, it is embodied in the democratization of international relations. As far as the practical value orientation of whole-process people's democracy is concerned, whole-process people's democracy is not aimed at achieving the interests of a few people or individual countries, but is aimed at safeguarding the fundamental interests of the people, and its starting point and end goal are to seek happiness for the people. At the same time, China not only emphasizes the active development of whole-process people's democracy in its own country, but also vigorously promotes the democratization of international relations and the realization of the common values of democracy for all mankind.
In terms of national governance, whole-process people's democracy has always been people-centered, ensuring the broad participation of the people in the country's political life, and aiming to embody the will of the people, protect the rights and interests of the people, and stimulate the people's creative vitality, so as to serve the building of a modern socialist country and the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Among countries, whole-process people's democracy advocates the maintenance of world peace and the democratization of international relations, respect for the sovereignty and security of all countries, and respect for democracy and the diversity of civilizations. From striving to build a community with a shared future for mankind and actively promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, to promoting the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind, and achieving win-win cooperation among all countries, China has always adhered to the general direction of common security, common development and democratization of international relations, and promoted the evolution of the international political order in a more just and reasonable direction.
Whole-process people's democracy has the normative and orderly nature of the process.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) leads the people in the creation and development of whole-process people's democracy, adheres to the Party's leadership throughout the democratic process, and regulates democratic practice with the rule of law, systems, and rationality, so as to ensure the steady and long-term development of Chinese-style modernization.
Whole-process people's democracy adheres to the party's leadership throughout the democratic process, which fundamentally guarantees the correct development direction and orderly progress of whole-process people's democracy. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has always represented the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people and has given full play to its leadership advantages in controlling the overall situation and coordinating all parties. With strong leadership, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has systematically managed various departments and rationally allocated the functions of macro-management departments, so that they can perform their duties and cooperate in coordination to create space for the exercise of people's rights. With efficient coordination ability, we organize and mobilize various social resources to public undertakings and create conditions for the solution of public problems, thus promoting the high efficiency of national governance with the high quality of democracy, and forming a stable and united political situation and a strong synergy of unity officers.
Whole-process people's democracy persists in advancing in an orderly manner on the track of the rule of law, and the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution at its core provides a solid legal system guarantee for whole-process people's democracy, ensuring that the democratic process is lawful, compliant, stable and orderly.
On the one hand, the law restricts the improper and illegal acts that are easy to breed in the process of democracy, taking the people's congress system as an example, the people's congress system is an important institutional carrier for developing whole-process people's democracy and ensuring that the people are the masters of the country. With its mandatory effect, China's constitution guarantees that voters and deputies can exercise their rights in a standardized and effective manner without the influence of external interference. China fully guarantees the people's exercise of democratic rights in accordance with the law, and prohibits improper acts of canvassing for votes and bribery that violate laws and regulations, such as "spreading rumors and slandering", "buying and selling votes", "sealing officials and making wishes", "grandstanding the public", and "eagerness for quick success and quick profit", so as to safeguard the bottom-line mechanism for democratic operation.
On the other hand, laws and regulations also clarify the responsibilities of relevant institutions for promoting whole-process people's democracy. For example, the Constitution and Law Committee of the 14th National People's Congress has written whole-process people's democracy into Article 6 of the Legislation Law, and has added Articles 70 and 90 to specify that the Standing Committees of the People's Congresses at all levels shall establish grassroots legislative contact points according to actual needs. Article 89 clearly requires that after the promulgation of local regulations, autonomous regulations, and special regulations, their texts, explanations of the drafts, reports on the results of deliberations, and so forth, shall be promptly published in the communiqués of the standing committee of the people's congresses at the corresponding level, on the website of the Chinese National People's Congress, on the local people's congresses**, and in newspapers distributed within the administrative region. China's constitution provides a fundamental legal guarantee for the development of whole-process people's democracy, endows the people with extensive and real democratic rights, and realizes the essence of democracy to the greatest extent.
Whole-process people's democracy persists in guiding the people to express their interests and participate in politics in an orderly manner, and continuously expands and innovates in the channels and procedures for participation through the orderly connection of all parts of the system, so that all aspects of the country's political and social life reflect the will of the people and hear the voice of the people. Whole-process people's democracy advocates pluralistic dialogue to allow interests and demands to be fully expressed as much as possible, and embeds specific forms of democratic organization into the system through the creation of diverse democratic participation channels such as hearings, earnest discussions, direct trains to public sentiments, convenient service windows, and various grassroots councils, so as to increase the breadth and depth of public participation in democratic governance.
Whole-process people's democracy has real and effective performance.
Whole-process people's democracy not only pays attention to the improvement of democracy in terms of values, goals, systems, and procedures, but also attaches importance to the practical results of democracy, and constantly pursues the goals of protecting people's rights, safeguarding people's interests, improving people's well-being, promoting social stability and harmony, and improving the performance of national governance.
Whole-process people's democracy enables the people's rights to be fully guaranteed. The people enjoy the right to vote and to be elected in accordance with the law, the right to know, the right to participate, the right to express themselves, and the right to supervise state and social affairs, and the right to criticize and make suggestions to any state organ or state functionary, and to manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings, and social affairs through various channels and forms.
Whole-process people's democracy enables the people's interests to be fully expressed and effectively realized. Whole-process people's democracy has continuously broadened the channels for democratic participation, so that the people's interests and demands can be expressed smoothly and the people's will can be effectively responded to. The closed-loop chain of the whole process, composed of democratic elections, democratic consultations, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision, ensures that the broad masses of the people can obtain information from formal channels when participating in public affairs, and have smooth channels for expressing their demands.
Whole-process people's democracy has effectively improved the effectiveness of national governance. The effectiveness of whole-process people's democracy is not only reflected in the improvement of the rule of law system, the extensive participation of the people, the response and fulfillment of public demands, and the stability and harmony of society, but also has great significance for the effectiveness of national governance, effectively preventing the phenomenon of mutual restraint and serious internal friction, and forming a stable and united political situation and a strong joint force of unity officers.
Whole-process people's democracy is conducive to promoting social harmony and stability. As China is faced with a large population and difficult governance, it is necessary to properly handle the issues of efficiency and fairness, development and stability, and the superposition of modernization and post-modernization in the process of modernization. The whole process of people's democracy coordinates all kinds of social interests, improves the governance system of urban and rural communities, promotes the formation of a reasonable pattern of social interests, promptly resolves conflicts, and effectively avoids intensifying social contradictions.
Whole-process people's democracy uses complete institutional procedures and complete participatory practices to transform democracy from a value concept into an institutional form, governance mechanism, and people's way of life rooted in the land of China. Whole-process people's democracy has distinctive Chinese characteristics and irreplaceable Chinese advantages, and has continuously promoted the benign and upward development of socialist democratic politics.
Whole-process people's democracy has provided the world with China's democratic program. There are many ways to achieve democracy, and it is impossible to be one-size-fits-all. It is inherently undemocratic to use a single yardstick to measure the world's rich and colorful political systems and to examine the colorful political civilization of mankind with a monotonous eye. Whole-process people's democracy has effectively countered the attacks of Western anti-China forces on socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics, not only promoted Chinese-style modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, but also provided Chinese solutions and contributed Chinese wisdom to world political civilization. (Liu Yiqing, School of Foreign Chinese, Nankai University, also contributed to this article.) ）
*: Guangming Net).