ABSTRACTS

ThePoliticalLogicandBasicManagementoftheSystemicImprovementofPartyGovernance

LiuHonglin(4)

Abstract:Strictly Party governance is the fundamental requirement of Marxist political parties and the way to self-strengthen the Communist Party of China in its century-long development. In the new era, the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party is not only meant to solve the general and specific problems faced by the Party's construction, but also to effectively solve the unique problems besetting its long-term governance. This is also meant to aid the Party remove itself from its historical cycles. To improve the Party’s system of strict governance, reform must be built into the Party's organizational system and structure. This must be done in accord with the general requirements of the Party's construction in the new era, and it must be based on and guaranteed by the system of intra Party laws and regulations. We must adhere to scientific concepts and systematic thinking. We must focus on preventing power alienation and instead push to integrate all the elements of strict governance of the Party, making it a structured rather than flat organic system. Fundamentally, the system of strict governance of the Party in an all-round way is a set of institutional mechanisms consisting of dynamism, responsibility, management, supervision, accountability, rewards, punishments, etc. The key is to further realize the organic unity and supporting operation of the systems related to responsibility, supervision, and accountability within the Party.

KeyWords: the system of comprehensively and strictly governing the party; political logic; historical logic; development requirements; scientific concept

TheInstitutionalGuaranteeandOptimizationPath:theCPC’sDevelopmentofChina’sWhole-ProcessPeople'sDemocracy

TangHuangfengandHuangXiaoshan(13)

Abstract: Developing a whole-process people's democracy is not only an important guarantee for the Communist Party of China (CPC) to fulfill its original aspiration and mission to ensure that the people are the masters of their country, but also one of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization. The development of the whole-process people's democracy by the CPC, guided by the Marxist view of the masses and the theory of people's democracy, follows the scientific laws of socialist democratic political construction, and has distinctive characteristics and significant advantages. The CPC has a complete institutional basis for developing the whole-process people's democracy. The CPC's leadership system and the nation’s system of people's congresses are the political guarantee and basic carrier for developing the whole-process people's democracy, respectively. China's political party system and grass-roots democracy system provide the most effective channels for developing the whole-process people's democracy to gather the broadest political consensus and participation. As our modern, socialist country is built, we must continue to expand the coverage of the whole-process people's democracy. This will include combining the normalized consultative democracy with staged electoral democracy and promoting the matching of democratic consciousness, democratic ability, and democratic style with the construction of a democratic system. One important aspect of this will be the unity of political democracy, economic democracy, and social democracy, such that there is a constant enhancement of the universality, authenticity, and effectiveness of democracy. This is the optimized path for the development of a whole process, people's democracy in the new era.

Keywords: the spirit of the 20th national congress of the CPC; the whole-process people's democracy; institutional guarantee; optimization path

TheCommonFeaturesandChineseCharacteristicsoftheChinesePathtoModernization

ChenXiyanandChenLixu(23)

Abstract:The Report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that China’s “path to modernization is the socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China. It has both the common features of the modernization of all countries and the Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions.” The Chinese path to modernization is a model of modernization, with the common connotations and features of other modernizing countries. The characteristics of modernization may be the same across nations, but the path to achieving modernization is diverse and the western path is not the only model. China’s unique history, culture and basic national conditions such as “Late-developing”, “Parallel connection” and “Huge population”, mark the Chinese path to modernization with distinct characteristics. China must make its own development path suited to its characteristics. To promote Chinese-style modernization, China must “Always think of problems, make decisions and handle affairs in the light of its national conditions.”

Keywords:chinese path to modernization, common features, chinese characteristics, western path to modernization

From“Harmonyofmanandnature”to“Harmonyisprecious”——JurisprudentialinnovationandthepracticeofgovernanceinancientChina

HeQinhuaandZhangShun(31)

Abstract: “Harmony of man and nature” is an outstanding achievement of ancient Chinese epistemology. Transforming it from a philosophical proposition into “Harmony is precious” in the political and legal practice of governing the country, and planning and arranging it in terms of legal concepts and systems, reflects the political wisdom and practical experience of the wise ministers and monarchs in ancient Chinese society. Beginning with a discussion of the relationship between “Harmony of man and nature” and “Harmony is precious”, this paper investigates the origins, connotations, evolution, and practice of the concept of harmony between man and nature. This includes the concept’s institutional embodiment in the Chinese legal system. Several traditional Chinese legal expressions value harmony, such as the preference for limiting, ceesing, and even barring litigation, the fusion of etiquette and law, and other ancient judicial practices. This paper posits that national concepts such as “Harmony of man and nature” and “Harmony is precious” still exert significant influence over the process of building a country under the rule of law in China.

Keywords:harmony of man and nature; harmony is precious; governance; chinese traditional legal culture

TheNotionofContributionReconsidered:OneoftheEthicalPreconditionsforCommonProsperity

TanAnkui(43)

Abstract:Productive contribution measured in terms of market value has been considered as the decisive criterion for resource distribution due to the transition from status to contract. But this hinders us intellectually from imaging social fairness and the ideal of common prosperity. The evaluation of productive contributions by referencing market value is technically unreliable, and it is of little ethical significance. A prior social imaginary as a reference frame in which economy and market are embedded is necessary for both rational evaluation of contributions and the pursuit of egalitarian distribution. In this social imaginary beyond the market model, a common asset irreducible to individual productive contributions constitutes the material and ethical foundation of common prosperity, and it widens the spectrum of values within which we think about the notion of contribution. People can contribute in non-productive forms during the diachronic social reproduction, and thus earn social recognition and dignity.

Keywords:the notion of contribution; productive contribution; social imaginary; common asset; common prosperity

HopesandFearsforUrbanDigitalGovernance

ZhengLei,ZhangHongandWangXiang(53)

Abstract：What kind of urban digital governance are scholars hoping for? What do scholars fear it might become? Through focus groups and literature review, this paper collects and analyzes scholars' hopes and fears for urban digital governance. They hope that urban digital governance could be a symphony of government, market and society rather than a solo of government itself, benefit vulnerable groups, be developed upon people's actual needs, keep a balance between technology and human beings, enhance integrity and synergy, be sustainable, agile, adaptive, and transparent. Scholars fear that urban digital governance could produce few real impacts, collect data excessively at the sacrifice of people’s privacy, deprive people of the right to make their own choices, and strengthen an outdated model and institution of governance. These hopes and fears reflect academia’s thoughts on the relationship between technology, institutions, and people as well as its concerns about the effects and impact of urban digital governance.

Keywords: urban; digital governance; hopes; fears

ContemporaryFrenchMarxismasPoliticalPhilosophy

BaoDawei(63)

Abstract:Over a century of theoretical evolution, French Marxists introduced dialectics, through Hegelianism, into the political conception of socialism. At the same time, through the translation and discussion of Karl Marx's early philosophical works, it triggered a humanist and existential vision of Marxist political views. In the ongoing controversy full of political factors, contemporary French Marxists have reflected on the positive and negative experiences of socialist revolutionary practice in the past century. They have also inherited the unfinished practice of political emancipation from the 20th century while criticizing the contemporary symptoms of capitalist ideology. The historical burdens of theory and practice pushed contemporary French Marxists to divide principle from strategy This took the form of trying to completely abandon political ethics to reconstruct the relationship between “meta-politics” and historical materialism while trying to suspend the critique of modern capitalist democracy in governance and order.

Keywords: french marxism; political philosophy; historical sciences; governance discourse

InstitutionalDiscourseandtheDiscourseSystem:AStudyfromtheInstitutionalPerspectiveoftheDiscourseInnovationoftheCommunistPartyofChinaintheNewEra

FanShiboandQiWeiping(72)

Abstract: Since its 18th National Congress, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has not only emphasized the Chinese system, but also the rule of China. The relationship between institutions and governance rests on intrinsic unity. Only by giving full play to institutional advantages can governance efficiency be improved. Around the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the CPC has formed a discourse system to meet the style of the times. In the system noumenon, the CPC emphasizes that the socialist system with Chinese characteristics is suitable for China's national conditions. On the system level, the CPC adheres to the principle of classification and stratification, thereby clarifying the system’s connotations. The system of superiorityemphasizes concentration of strength to accomplish major tasks and to promote government efficiency. The system’s most essential characteristic is the leadership of the CPC. Institutional discourse conveys the value of the governance of the CPC. To form the joint force of discourse, the CPC has adopted the mechanisms of discourse absorption, discourse amalgamation, discourse stratification, and discourse weakening. It is helpful for building a modern, socialist country to build consensus and provide a strong political guarantee of a constantly developing institutional discourse.

Keywords: institutional discourse; discourse system; discursive institutionalism; institutional advantage; governance effectiveness

CantheMetaversePromotePublicParticipationinSocialGovernance?AFive-levelScaffoldAnalysis

PanHaozhi,LyuShoujunandChenJie(81)

Abstract:“Technological empowerment” in the digital transformation of social governance aims to promote public participation and collaboration in decision-making through emerging technologies. But can it really increase the public’s power? For example, the Metaverse provides the channel and media for communication between the public and government. But the new technology can also be exploited by techno-capitalists to pursue a corporate and technocratic society. This paper examines these questions through a five-level scaffold conceptualization to enrich the discourse of the “technological empowerment” of the Metaverse. The conceptualization is used to distinguish the types and extent of technology empowerment for different stakeholders in social governance within the Metaverse. The five different levels in the scaffold, from low to high, include “corporate technocrat”,“tokenism interaction”, “public participation”, “co-creation and collaboration”, and “delegated power”. In every level of the five-level scaffold, keyword search is used to identify and explain the corresponding roles and cases of the public in social governance. The results show that “co-creation and collaboration” is a promising approach that can be scaled up under current social governance conditions and is a feasible direction for digital transformation. Application of the Metaverse in technological empowerment can be well-guided by “co-creation and collaboration”. At the same time, the five-level scaffold conceptualization also warns of the risks of technolo-capitalists’ pushing a neoliberal agenda by applying Metaverse technology to evade regulation.

Keywords: metaverse, digital transformation of social governance, technology empowerment, five-level scaffold conceptualization, public participation

TheFormation,Characteristics,andPracticalitiesofUrbanCommunityGovernance——AQualitativeComparativeStudyofQCABasedon56cases

ZhouJinpingandZhouPei(93)

Abstract: As the carrier of daily life and the basic governance unit, the urban community has important value. Building community governance is an important theoretical and practical issue that requires urgent study. This paper clarifys the basic connotations of community governance by examining it through the “Ties-Relations-Norms” analytical framework and the QCA qualitative comparative analysis of 56 urban community governance cases. We found that under the “party and government thrust” and “system guarantee” some communities have formed endogenous governance communities. They are characterized by a “co governance platform” and “community self-organization”. Characteristics of an incubating community governance community are its “interest guidance” and “professional support”. A community governance community under stress is characterized by its “Scene urgency” under specific scenarios. At present, it is necessary to strengthen the endogeneity of community governance dynamics, structural embeddedness and institutional effectiveness. At the same time, differentiated strategies should be adopted depending on the community and its governance circumstances. The goal is to gradually form a community of community governance in the context of bond cohesion, relationship connections, and normative guarantees.

Keywords: community governance; social Governance community; type characteristics; build path

TheMulti-directionalConnectionandInitiationEffectsofConsumptionAssistanceGovernmentMechanism:FindingsBasedonPolicy-text-AnalysisandRealityInvestigation

LiXiaohongandFengYong(105)

Abstract:From the two perspectives of policy design and real works, the paper examines the role of government in consumption assistance. Based on the analysis of the national policies of consumption assistance, this study’s findings show that in policy design, the diversified attributes of consumption assistance subjects are obvious, including government departments, public institutions, state-owned enterprises, etc.; the connection between multiple subjects has the characteristics of “government department +” and has multiple attributes such as section leadership, guidance, horizontal collaboration or cooperation, and policy supports that cover supply-side, connection-side, and demand-side entities. The investigations in GH provincial departments show that the implementation of consumption assistance has the interactive characteristics of both respective responsibilities and multiple aggregation, which is specifically manifested in each department performing its own duties and achieving full coverage of “three-terminal” connections. They all focus on some common problems such as “goods are not good enough”, “difficult to sell” or “difficult to buy”, and attach importance to the “real problem” and market capacity building, respect for the law of development, integration of resources to build a pilot, etc. From the case study, the startup functions of government for consumption assistance include empowering market transactions with administrative power on the demand side; incubating circulation enterprises and initiating market-oriented growth, brand building, and industrial growth on the supply side.

Keywords:consumption assistance；government mechanism；multi-directional connection and initiation；policy text

TheClassificationofAdministrativeProcuratorialSuggestions

XieZhiyongandWangXiaoshu(115)

Abstract: Currently, the administrative procuratorial suggestion is the most direct focus of administrative procuratorial power, the most professional expression of administrative procuratorial work, the most efficient supervisory path, and the most standardized supervision instrument. In practice, administrative procuratorial suggestions have some flaws. They can have unclear legal positioning, unscientific classifications, non-standard applications, insufficient coercive force, and are often mixed with other legal documents, making it difficult to fully exploit their institutional benefits. To address these issues, it is necessary to clarify the legal positioning of each administrative procuratorial suggestion and follow the purpose of its legal supervision. Administrative procuratorial suggestions should also be divided into three types based on the degree of harm caused by administrative actions: “preventive,” “reactive,” and “emergency,” and each should have design, differentiated rules that apply. Their comprehensive effectiveness can also be improved by standardizing their system of construction, by determining their applicable conditions and scope, and by strengthening collaboration between the People's Procuratorate, the People's Congress, the Supervisory Committee, and other agencies.

Keywords:administrative procuratorial;procuratorial suggestions; legal supervision;classification