On The Expression Of Public Opinion In The Process Of Public Policy Making Of Local Government

Democratic society is a social type that political and economic functioning is dominated by the public opinion. The free expression of public opinion and orderly public participation form the national will by the legal procedure, which are the state, local or autonomous region laws, policies, plans, objectives, etc, after that the governments which are authorized by the public carry out these laws and policies. Therefore, the expression of public opinion is the first condition for the smooth development of democratic society, but also the first term to maintain the public rights.In modern democratic society, exploring and following the public opinion has become an indispensable element in the process of public policy-making. Party General Secretary Hu Jintao stressed in the 17th national congress report: promoting the formation of scientific and democratic decision-making; perfecting the system of decision-making information and intellectual support; enhancing the decision-making transparency and public participation; constituting the laws and public policies related to the public interests, need giving ear to the public. Therefore, the public opinion has become the logical starting point and legitimate cornerstone for the governments to make public policies. Meeting the public demands has been a primary goal for the public policy-making. The expression of public opinion has an important part in the process of public policy-making: it is the fundamental premise for the local governments to make public policies; it is the strong guarantee for the local governments to carry out the public policies; it is the important basis for the adjustment of public policy. At the same time, the expression of public opinion has an important value function on the public policies: It contributes to show the legitimacy of public policy, prevent the failure of public policy-making and improve the public recognition with the public policy.With the social transformation and economic transition in recent years, the contents and methods of the expression of public opinion has have some significant changes, showing a lot of new features: the bodies of the expression of public opinion have been multiplex; the network public opinion has been an important force affecting the public policy-making;the expressible pattern of public opinion has gradually changed from the passive state to the autonomous state. It should be noted, the current expression of public opinion has some new features in the process of government's decision, in the same time, there are still many deficiencies and practical difficulties to face: firstly, lacking of enough channels for the expression of public opinion in the process of public policy-making; secondly, the expression of public opinion lacks of enough efficacy owing to the information asymmetry; Thirdly, lacking of expressible mechanism for the vulnerable groups in the process of local government's public policy-making. The main reasons causing these difficulties lie in: on one hand, the decision-makers of local governments are weak in the people-oriented concept; on the other hand, the absence of laws and systems with the expression of public opinion; moreover, the mechanism for local governments to response the public demands is not sound. Therefore, to construct the mechanism of the expression of public opinion lies in the following four aspects: concept reformation, system innovation, specific operation and government's response to public demands, which are the ways that local governments produce the public policies according with the public demands, so that the government's policy-making behavior can form an organic virtuous circle in the process of interacting with the government, public policy and the public.