Municipal People's Congress Elections in the PRC: a process of co-option

Congress elections are an important part of political–legal studies in China. The literature has covered the direct election process, voters' attitudes and behaviors, and Party–congress–government relations in Chinese elections. Based on on-site observations, interviews and first-hand documents, this article explores the process of indirect elections at the municipal level. This article examines the interaction among institutions taking part in the municipal congress elections. It also addresses how the social structure changes affect congress elections and deputy compositions. It reveals that an implicit function of the congress election is to co-opt new social groups and interests into the establishment. Such co-option is an adaptive strategy of the Party state in the reform era.     

论党内基层民主创新的生成机制——基于基层乡镇党委“公推直选”的案例分析

基层乡镇党委"公推直选"是中国共产党发展党内民主的最新实践成果之一.以基层乡镇党委"公推直选"的典型案例为样本,考察党内基层民主创新发展的生成机制,可以发现,当前在基层党内民主创新中,存在中央与地方、基层的互动、互惠的动力机制;中央和地方、基层的这种互动关系又是在党内现有组织体制内运行的.进而通过这种体制建立起了党内基层民主创新中的控制与传导机制,指导相关党内基层民主创新实践的进行.     

Village Election and Governance: do villagers care?

Village elections at the grassroots level have been regularly conducted for more than a decade in the context of the Chinese political system. Both negative and positive views have been expressed and written on village elections. How does one evaluate Chinese village elections? Free and fair elections require conformity to international election principles, rules, and procedures. This study develops a minimum procedural criterion to assess if village elections have followed internationally-accepted rules and procedures of free and fair elections. We also measure the meaningfulness of village elections by examining the effects of elections on village governance and villagers' life. We find that elections have been conducted in a manner consistent with proscribed rules and procedures and are generally free and fair, and there is a considerable convergence of views of villagers and cadres who see that elections are meaningful in producing positive changes in village governance and life. The data also confirm that elected villagers' committees are still in the long shadow of township governments and village Party branches.     

Participation and Competition: innovations in cadre election and selection in China's townships

Since the late 1990s, a large number of electoral reforms have occurred in China's towns and townships across the country. While scattered cases of direct election of township heads happened in the early years, recent cases have acquired very diverse and complicated institutional arrangements. Three ideal types of innovation have emerged that range from competitive selection to direct election. The actual changes to electing or selecting a township leader can be best measured in (1) the degree to which public participation is expanded; and (2) the degree of competition introduced between candidates. In the late 1990s, during the first wave of these innovations, the enterprising cadres in the regime's middle elite, mostly county and city officials, often played a critical ‘crafting’ role, as they responded to local crises in governance or competed for faster promotion. In recent years, amelioration in local governance means crises have become less pressing, while the widespread implementation of reforms means that contained forms of participation and competition are likely to become the new status quo of township institutions.     

对人大代表采取强制措施许可程序的思考——以检察机关职务犯罪侦查工作为视角

我国法律规定,县级以上地方各级人大代表,非经本级人大主席团或常委会的许可,不受逮捕等强制措施或刑事审判。但是,法律对于人大行使许可权的审查主体、内容、时限等规定语焉不详,甚至存在法律冲突,导致这一制度在执行过程中出现问题。本文将以检察机关职务犯罪侦查工作为视角,阐述对人大代表采取强制措施许可程序的症结及对策建议。     

The Shequ experiment: grassroots political reform in urban China

Although China's economic reforms have been responsible for generating unprecedented growth, they have also been responsible for rendering the danwei, the foundation of the Chinese political and social system in urban areas, increasingly irrelevant. This has serious implications since danweis have been both the organizational base of the Communist Party and the vehicle through which social services were provided. Belatedly, the government has responded to this dilemma by experimenting with social organizations at the grassroots level in urban areas. One of the most significant experiments is the development of shequs. In the latter half of the 1990s, shequs were given more autonomy and responsibilities. Some of the more advanced shequs began to experiment with elections and social welfare functions previously provided by the government. The experiment, however, is still in an initial phase and shequs have not yet had a significant impact on the polity. Nonetheless, the Party and government have placed much importance on the shequ experiment. Their success will thus allow us some insight into the process of political development in urban China.     

参与式性别预算:来自温岭的探索

中国近年兴起的"参与式性别预算"是指从性别视角审议与监督政府的财政预算,较典型的是浙江温岭的实践,其实质是当地"参与式预算"的延伸与拓展。这种参与式性别预算的动力来自于体制内部,即"人大"推动和党委政府的支持。参与式性别预算的主体是多元的,包括人大、党委、政府、妇联、人大代表和基层民众等,他们各司其职又紧密配合,其运行机制和参与式预算互为依存,或者说依系于参与式预算的基本框架。参与式性别预算的内容主要包括三个层面:一是针对女性的专项预算支出;二是与女性关系更密切的预算支出;三是一般性的预算支出。这一女性参与决策的新途径已经取得明显成效。但是,如果从完整规范的预算周期评估来看,仍有待拓展和深化。     

乡镇党委领导成员直接差额选举的实践与探索

乡镇党委成员直接差额选举解决了权力与民主脱节和权力来源问题,体现了党管干部和群众公认原则,体现了党内对人民民主的示范和带动作用;同时,有利于扩大群众基础,扩大了选人用人视野;转变了干部监督方式;实现了对上负责和对下负责的统一。目前,乡镇党委成员直接差额选举还处在试点探索阶段,应注意处理好报名资格条件、民主推荐、党管干部原则、因乡镇制宜等问题。     

社会主义新农村建设中乡镇政府责任实现的障碍及消解

作为党和国家政策最直接的落实者,乡镇政府在建设社会主义新农村过程中承担着无可替代的责任。然而,在履行责任过程中乡镇政府受到来自政府财政、体制职能以及政府同乡村治理关系等方面问题的困扰,由此乡镇政府必须围绕基层政府体制结构,围绕同村委会关系做出相应改革调整,才是摆脱困境的必然选择。     

试析行政法领域的思想解放及其走向

新中国行政法是在党的十一届三中全会以后迅速发展起来的。它前行的每一步都凝结着思想解放的成果,它未来的发展亦有赖于思想进一步解放。行政法观念与制度变迁的基本走向是:从管制行政到控权行政再到服务行政,从依政策行政到有法可依再到实质法治,从全能政府到职能转变再到行政组织法治化,从单方强制到刚柔相济再到合作参与,从轻视程序到程序合法再到程序当正,从公权神圣到接受监督再到完善监督、救济制度和建立责任政府等。     

论市级以上人大代表补选中的选举机构

关于人大代表的补选活动,我国《选举法》第54条只规定了选举主体而未阐明选举机构,若有数量较大的人大代表资格丧失引发补选活动时,专门的选举机构就必不可少。此时可以参照《选举法》第8条,县级以下的人大代表补选活动由独立的选举委员会主持,市级以上的人大代表补选活动的选举机构为同级人大常委会。但当数量较多的市级以上的人大代表代表资格终止时其同级的人大常委会因成员不足而陷入瘫痪,无法履行其作为选举机构的职责,《选举法》对于这种情形的选举机构的规定尚存缺陷,因而需要结合实践中关于类似问题的应对措施从立法论角度对该法律漏洞进行弥补。     

The Education of Chen Shui-bian: Taiwan's experience of divided government

From its founding, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party emphasized the role of the president. It advocated a variety of measures aimed at strengthening the presidency, including direct presidential elections. However, it was only when a DPP politician was elected president in 2000 that the party discovered just how weak Taiwan's president is. During his first year in office, President Chen Shui-bian repeatedly found himself stymied by an intransigent and uncooperative legislature. The conflict between the presidential office and the legislature climaxed in a confrontation over the executive's decision to cancel construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant. In the wake of the decision, some legislators attempted to recall Chen from office. In the second year of his presidency, Chen was more effective in working within the constraints of a divided government. Despite the difficulties its leaders faced in managing a divided government, however, the DPP has not changed its position in favor of presidentialism.     

Political Earthquake and Aftershocks: The DPP after the 2000 presidential election

The 2000 presidential election marked a major turning point in Taiwan's political development. For the first time since 1949 the government of Taiwan came under the control of a political party other than the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT). The seemingly peaceful transfer of power after the 18 March election leading up to the 20 May inauguration has been widely cited as evidence of Taiwan's democratic consolidation, even though the alternation of ruling power was undoubtedly a major political earthquake in Taiwan history. Since the major political earthquake took place in March 2000, numerous aftershocks have occurred. They include the opposition attempt to recall the newly elected president and vice president; the formation of a 'major opposition alliance'; a dramatic economic downturn; and the 2001 Legislative Yuan elections that resulted in another KMT defeat. Different political parties, especially the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), have been trying to learn how to cope with the new political situation.     

Representation without Taxation: political changes in Chinese authoritarian regimes

The question of why some authoritarian regimes choose to incorporate institutions of democracy such as village elections into their governing systems remains largely unanswered. As a typical case of a resilient authoritarian state that implements democracy in its villages, China has provided an invaluable case for researchers to study. Current theories focus on the influence of political elites and rural forces separately. Insightful as they are, these theories are invalid as an explanation of the variation of local governance in China across time and thus are incomplete. It should be recognized that central fiscal strategies have great effects on local governance. Specifically, if the central government largely relies upon fiscal revenue from rural areas, it has to expand its bureaucracy to the countryside to extract revenue. In contrast, if it does not rely on the rural areas for revenue, the central government will establish local democracy in the countryside. This hypothesis is historically reflected in the authoritarian regimes led by the Nationalist Party (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China. As opposed to the familiar story about representation through taxation, the logic of representation without taxation seems to be the case in China.     

中国乡级政府的几个历史与现实问题

改革开放以来，从撤社建乡、撤乡并镇到乡镇机构改革，乡级政权改革一刻也没有停止过。该文对乡级政府机构设置的变迁、乡级政府财政的改革、乡级政府与村的关系演变、党政关系的改革和改革中的乡镇干部与干群关系等五个问题做历史的描述与现实的思考。     

Only the Party Manages Cadres: limits of Local People's Congress supervision and reform in China

This article joins the debate on the increasingly consultative nature of Chinese politics by adding the role of the Local People's Congress (LPC). In contrast to previous research on LPCs that emphasizes their increasing importance and improved capacity, this article shows that the central Party leadership, in order to uphold its monopoly of the cadre management system, has reduced LPC standing committees' (LPCSC) influence over cadres. The article analyses the consequences of the People's Congress Standing Committee Supervision Law passed in 2006 and the policy of appointing the first Party secretary as LPCSC chairperson. A case study of the changes over a ten-year period (1998–2009) in a county People's Congress (PC) in Zhejiang illustrates how the change in leadership and the implementation of the Supervision Law effectively stopped previously initiated reforms to strengthen the LPC and crippled the LPCSCs' capacity to supervise government cadres. The article concludes that the policies adopted in order to strengthen Party control over LPCSCs have resulted in a decrease of horizontal accountability and confirm the image of an emerging consultative authoritarian political system.     

Partisanship,Ethnic Identification,and Citizen Attitudes toward Regime and Government on Taiwan

While Taiwan continues to enjoy a liberal, consolidated democratic regime, citizen discontent continues to be directed at regime, government, and the governing. Identifying the scope and degree of dissatisfaction is an initial step in ascertaining whether discontented citizens might be more or less amenable to destabilizing change at the regime level or more procedural changes at the government levels. Taiwan's 2004 elections topped off four years of mud slinging, legislative gridlock, and a number of serious battles over constitutional jurisdictions and powers. This research note compares survey items from the Taiwan Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) surveys taken in 2001 and 2003 to measure levels of support for a democratic regime and governance within this environment. As party and ethnic identification are key cleavages on Taiwan, this study seeks to establish the relative strengths of the association between partisan and ethnic identification and attitudes towards regime and government. The main findings are: (1) dissatisfaction with regime and governance are more strongly associated with partisan identification than ethnic identification; (2) there exists a surprisingly low satisfaction and commitment to democracy; and (3) alienation from government exists at a moderate level.     

Review of Poverty Alleviation Work in Rural Areas in China and Its Future Prospects

Since the launched of reform and opening up,the Chinese government has made great efforts and provided a lot of funds to promote poverty alleviation and development in rural areas China has made great achievements in the cause of poverty alleviation and these have been recognized by the international community The infrastructure in poverty-stricken areas has also been continuously improved,and industrial activities have been encouraged in poverty-stricken areas to help promote self-reliance As a result of the government's actions the poor rural population has been greatly reduced,and rural people's living standards have been greatly improved Since the 18~(th) National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the central government has put forward a strategy of accurate poverty alleviation,implemented poverty alleviation projects in areas where poverty has stubbornly persisted and enhanced its efforts to finally eliminate poverty Under the vigorous leadership of the CPC,China is expected to achieve the goal of eliminating absolute poverty nationwide ahead of schedule     

试论中国共产党女党代表及其发展历程

从第一个女党员缪伯英、第一个女党代表向警予到党的十七大445名女党代表,这一发展历程,既是中国妇女参政及政治地位不断提升的重要标志,又说明中国共产党坚持以马克思主义妇女理论为指导,重视发挥女党代表的先进作用和提高她们的政治地位,这在中国共产党的发展史上是值得书写的。