A Review of the Political System of Socialist with Chinese Characteristics

XuYaotong

Abstract: Political system is the organizational form of state regime. Marxism attaches great importance to the exploration of regime issues, with the purpose of creating a new form of proletariat national regime organization. Marxism political theory emphasizes that we must adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party, and implement the combination of legislative and executive powers under the leadership of the Party. The political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics has continuously evolved from the Paris commune and originated from the Soviet system. In the practical process of revolution, construction and reform, it has gained continuous development and achievements, shaping its own new characteristics and outlook. Its most important and typical political system is: the leadership system of CPC, the system of the people’s congress, the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the party, and the administrative system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. These four systems are new leaps based on the Paris commune and the Soviet political system, forming the main structure and basic form of the contemporary socialist political system with Chinese characteristics, which fully reflect the development of the Marxist political theory and highlight the innovative features of China.

Keywords: Socialism with Chinese characteristics; Political system; the CPC’s leadership; Institutional system; Innovative features

RethinkingtheEthicalDimensionofPublicService

ZhangQianyou

Abstract: Public service is a special profession in modern society. It inherits to a large extent the sacrifice norms contained in the traditional concept of vocation, requiring practitioners to make sacrifices for the public interest of society when necessary. Among public officials, there are also differences in the sacrifices that need to be made between practitioners who have key power and those who do not. The sacrifice of the latter is embodied in insisting on performing duties regardless of prosperity, adversity or danger. In addition to making such sacrifices, the former also needs to accept various strict restrictions on its power behavior. Public servants create great value to the society by making such sacrifices, which should be recognized properly by the society. Only when all sacrifices made by public servants were properly recognized, can there be more and more people engaging in public service, and creating conditions necessary for the realization of public interest.

Keywords: Public service; Public servant; Professional ethics; Sacrifice

StudyontheClassificationofReformofAdministrativeSystemofTownship

YeGuirenChenLijing

Abstract: Reform of administrative system of township is the critical path to promote the modernization of primary-level governance system, and the reform model is the important way to understand the reform. The difference of policy starting point and reform content in reform of administrative system of township shapes four modes: earmarked reform initiated by province, specific reform initiated by central government, systemic reform initiated by province and systemic reform initiated by central government. There are differences in the policy process, common forms, characteristics, policy goals and existing problems among the four reform models. Moreover, it is very obvious that the reform of administrative system of township is divided into different stages and it gradually transits to the stage when the main reform model is systemic reform initiated by the central government, which maximizes the effect of reform. All in all, the division of the four models enriches the research on the classification of the current reform of administrative system of township and provides theoretical thinking space for understanding the practice of reform of administrative system of township at the same time.

Keywords: Reform of administrative system of township; Primary-level governance; Systemic reform; Earmarked reform; Reform model

AdministrativeContractSystem:TheLogicandMechanismof“AdministrativeDistrict”GovernanceinTownship

TianXianhong

Abstract: How to ensure unity and flexibility is a difficult problem faced by the primary-level governance of major countries. For a large country like China, to transform the national governance system and institutional advantages into governance efficiency, and to enable the unified policy of the country to be implemented, the governance system must be precisely connected to the rural society. As a first-level quasi-administrative organization between the township (street) and the administrative village, the administrative district has contracted a large number of top-down public administrative affairs, and has become a carrier and hub for promoting the implementation of national governance tasks. The study found that the administrative contract system is the core mechanism for the “administrative district” governance in township. The administrative contract system of administrative district has better adapted to the needs of rural primary-level complex governance affairs, maintained the resilience of the primary-level governance system, and achieved flexibility and adaptability at the end of the national governance system. During the transition period, with the strengthening of top-down process control, the relationship between township and administrative districts has shown a trend of changing from a loosely connected type to a highly connected type. The autonomy and flexibility of the administrative district have declined, and the ability to adapt to the primary-level society has been weakened. In the future, in the process of advancing the modernization of the primary-level governance system and governance capabilities, it is necessary to avoid “one size fits all”, reserve a certain degree of autonomy for primary-level governments, and consolidate the primary-level foundation of national governance.

Keywords: Administrative district; Township; Administrative contract system; Primary-level governance modernization

TheMechanismbyWhichAgentsPushtheAdministration:TheMoralPrincipleDriveofVillageOfficialsinRuralConstruction

LiXiaofei

Abstract: The original intention of rural construction is to protect the basic rights of the survival of farmers. As a key actor in rural construction, the behavioral logic of village officials has not yet received sufficient attention from existing studies. Using the method of content analysis, participatory observation, and in-depth interview, the results of a case study on the dynamic management of rural subsistence allowances in M Township in the central region show that village officials become morality guards driven by the deontic logic “safety first” peasant survival ethics. Facing the grassroots government’s avoidance of responsibilities, village cadres insist on upgrading the way of sticking to morality, and force the primary-level government to recognize and conform to the deontic logic under the promotion of the shift of pursuing performance achievements and then form the mechanism by which agents push the administration. “The moral principle drive of village cadres” is a theory supplement to the field of China’s primary-level governance research. It updates the micro-theory of the role and behavior logic of village officials, expands the theory of rural social self-protection, revises the academic judgment of “dual-track politics turning to single-track politics”, and improves the theoretical description of the operating state of primary-level political power, but the scope of the application still needs to be further empirically tested.

Keywords: Village officials; Rural construction; Morality guards; Deontic logic; Agents pushing the administration

TheInternalLogicandImplicationsoftheEvolutionofRuralPolicyCenteredon“Farmers’RightsandInterests”

XieAnHouQiyuan

Abstract: Most of the academic studies on the evolution of China’s rural policies and the promotion of rural revitalization strategies cut through specific disciplines and fields, lacking the inner logic analysis of the core value mainline. Classic Marxist writers have fully affirmed the status and values of farmers and formed a systematic farmers’ interests view. Through an in-depth analysis of the internal evolution logic of China’s rural policy, we can discover that “farmers’ rights and interests” is the core value that runs through it. This value principle is not only in line with the ideas of classic Marxist writers, but also has important enlightenment in the current process of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization for addressing farmers’ demands for rights and interests. At present, farmers still have problems of rights and interests on land, economic and autonomous selection. Thus, firstly, we must adhere to the leadership of CPC and make the most of the grassroots Party organization in revitalizing the economy and understanding farmers’ demands, enhancing multi-dimensional governance capabilities; second, we need to explore institutional arrangements and policy measures to increase farmers’ land property rights; third, we need to increase employment support and vocational skills training for migrant worker groups and enhance farmers’ rights and interests in independent choice; fourth, we need to effectively protect farmers’ rights and interests with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of Revitalization of rural areas, promoting farmers’ comprehensive development.

Keywords: Farmers’ rights and interests; Rural policy; Rural vitalization; Evolution ogic