A Study On The Operating Mechanism Of Deliberative Democracy At The Grassroots Level In China

Although the fundamental political system of multi-party cooperation and political deliberative has been established since the founding of New China,it has only been in recent years that deliberative democracy has become cutting-edge research and hot topic in domestic academic circles.This research craze mainly stems from the new paradigm of deliberative democracy that emerged in the western political sciences in the late 20 th century.Chinese scholars have started to study the theory and its observations on the practice of deliberative democracy in China through the translation and introduction of Western deliberative democratic theory,which have achieved a large number of excellent results.On this basis,this article attempts to shift the research perspective of China ’s deliberative democratic practice from the macro-state system structure to the micro-level grassroots governance field.The determination of this research is based on the following thinking and deep understanding: Firstly,the practice of grassroots democratic deliberative in China emerged in the late 1990 s.It is a form of autonomous decision-making and governance that occurs when the system adjustment of the separation of government and society provides the grassroots with a certain degree of independent space.This form of grassroots democracy reflecting changes in the times is worthy of attention and discussion.Secondly,grassroots deliberative democracy was introduced as an effective form of grassroots social governance in China.An open and diverse social and economic life has accumulated a large number of social contradictions.The grassroots is the gathering place of various contradictions and conflicts.Forcing the practice of grassroots deliberative democracy,in order to judge the legitimacy and effectiveness of grassroots social governance,in-depth analysis of the operation mechanism of grassroots deliberative democracy is necessary theoretical work.c)c)Although the contemporary Western theory of deliberative democracy has stimulated the research of deliberative democracy in Chinese academia,the practice of grassroots deliberative democracy in China is based on its own logic.It is embedded in China ’s non-competitive institutional structure and political and cultural soil.Therefore,this article explains and evaluates the practice of grassroots deliberative democracy in China based on the local culture and the concept of Chinese deliberative democracy.The theory of deliberative democracy provides a theoretical tool to analyze the operation mechanism of grassroots deliberative democracy.The theoretical research and practical exploration of China’s grassroots deliberative democracy are the results of the transformation of China’s economic and social development model.In essence,on the one hand,the development of grassroots deliberative democracy manifests itself as the grassroots government promotes the appropriateness of grassroots social governance through the effective operation of negotiated democracy,resolves the contradictions of interests existing in grassroots social governance,and modernizes the capacity of grassroots governance.On the other hand,the grassroots deliberative democratic operation mechanism must also work hard to adjust itself and generate a good operation mechanism to enhance the adaptability and initiative of the operation mechanism.The research on the operation mechanism and optimization of China’s grassroots deliberative democracy is based on the "three-dimensional" analysis of theoretical logic,historical logic,and practical logic.On the theoretical logic,the second chapter analyzes the decision-making theory,governance theory,participation theory,and form the theory of deliberative democracy.Based on that,the connotation and characteristics of deliberative democracy explained from the aspects of equality and public rational negotiation value,negotiation and deliberation negotiation procedures,and non-mandatory negotiation relations.This chapter analyzes the main body and level scope of the grassroots deliberative democratic mechanism operation.It determines the theoretical analysis framework of the grassroots deliberative democratic operation mechanism,which includes: the representative selection mechanism,agenda and agenda-setting mechanism,expression and dialogue mechanism,integration and decision-making mechanism,supervision mechanism and corresponding principles and norms of grassroots deliberative and democracy.This theoretical analysis framework constitutes the basic idea and context of empirical research in this article.In terms of historical logic,the third chapter traces back the ancient Chinese negotiation culture of "merge" and "harmony",and the concept of modern Chinese negotiation that integrates the people-oriented and civil rights.This chapter reviews the "joint meeting" deliberative s during the first period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party,and also recalls the deliberative of the "three three systems" democratic regime during the Anti-Japanese War.It examines the political deliberative s and political party deliberative s after the founding of New China,and finally focuses on the rise and practice of China’s grassroots deliberative democracy since the reform and opening up,thus explaining the political and cultural origins and practical institutional basis of the growth of China’s grassroots deliberative democracy.In terms of practical logic,Chapter four discusses the operation mechanism of grassroots deliberative democracy based on the empirical analysis of grassroots deliberative democracy in Henan Province.Henan Province is typical and representative because of its early start of grassroots deliberative democratic practice and the successful implementation of various forms of deliberative democracy such as "four discussions and two openness","one levy,three discussions and two openness",and "village council".The chapter first makes a systematic description of sample selection and survey design and implementation.Then,based on the statistical results of the questionnaire and the interview materials in the sample area,analyze the current status of the grassroots deliberative democratic operation mechanism.It also focuses on a series of problems such as the administrative colour,propositional "deliberative ","internal input" mode of the agenda,the imbalance of two-way negotiation,the lack of public reason for dialogue,the excess of consultative consultation and the insufficient decision-making deliberative difficulties in the operating mechanism.The fifth chapter discusses the crux and causes of the defects of the grassroots deliberative democratic operation mechanism.The contradiction between the principle consists of the township government and villagers’ autonomy,and the difference in profit-seeking actions reflects the characteristics of“ one unity and two bodies”,which leads to deliberative differences and conflicts.The shortage of grassroots deliberative democracy system supply has hindered the innovation of deliberative practice.Fragmentation of local innovation has often caused the difficulty of deliberative and decision-making consensus.The discourse dominance of grassroots elites has weakened the broadness and equality of deliberative representatives.Chapter six addresses the above specific problems and draws on existing resources to propose an optimized path to promote the effective operation of the grassroots deliberative democratic mechanism.Specifically: a)according to the relevance of interest,broadness,and professionalism,the selection criteria of negotiating representatives are clearly defined;b)through inclusive and program optimization to achieve mode conversion of agenda and agenda setting operation mechanism;c)promote the negotiation and cooperation of expression and dialogue with equality and public reason;d)achieve the transition from consultative consultation to decision-making deliberative,and improve the mechanism of grassroots deliberative democratic integration and decision-making operation.The effective operation of grassroots deliberative democratic mechanisms means that China’s grassroots social governance capacity is improved,which is conducive to the resolution of a large number of contradictions and conflicts accumulated by grassroots society.Meanwhile,grassroots deliberative democracy is also an integral part of China’s democratic politics and a training ground for the development of China’s democratic politics.The research in this article is just an effort and an attempt.This open research needs more scholars’ thoughts and wisdom.