The Predicament Of Grass-root Government's Letters And Visits Work And Its Countermeasures Under The Pressure System

Grass-root government is the forefront of the work of letters and visits. The success of the work of letters and visits of grass-root government directly affected that of the local government. Under the pressure system, grass-root government is faced with the challenge of how to stabilize the work of letters and visits that has rigid-targets and the problem of hierarchical assessment. This leads to the change of the idea of letters and visits-the logic of "No Accident", lack of long-term mechanism, the pursuit of maximum work performance, the obstruction of public expression, the increasing social conflicts and contradiction, and the predicament of letters and visits of grass-root government.This essay mainly talks about the increasing number of mass incidents in recent years, the increasing occurrence rate of grass-root letters and visits, the government performance assessment focused on the number of letters and visits after canceling the ranking system, as well as its background and significance of this study. With the study of relevant literature and documents, it also explains the framework, methodology, new ideas and shortage of this study. It involves the theory of social conflict, rational agent assumption and mechanism of the social relief valve, which lays the theoretical foundation of the analysis of grass-root letters and visits and the countermeasure to deal with the predicament of it under the pressure system.The writer studies the practicing mode of Chinese grass-root government under the pressure system and finds that it not only has the decrease of pressure but also has the existence of "pressure reducing valve". After that, with the case study, this essay analyses the predicament of recent grass-root letters and visits, maintenance of stability and assessment of government performance. Firstly, it includes the predicament of maintenance of stability with rigid targets:(1) the pursuit of rigid social stability; (2) the palliative grass-root maintenance of stability; (3) the logic of "No Accident" of maintenance of stability. It also points out that the predicament of maintenance of stability causes decreasing public trust in government. Secondly, it includes the predicament of work assessment in hierarchy system:(1) the pressure from administrative accountability and complainant game; (2) the biased assessment of letters and visits; (3) the disappearing of the ranking system of letters and visits. It also makes an cause analysis of the predicament of work assessment in aspects of its system, practice of policy and institution.In terms of the analysis of the predicament of maintenance of stability of grass-root letters and visits and its work assessment, it finds out the countermeasures under the pressure system with three theories-theory of social conflict, rational agent assumption and mechanism of the social relief valve. These are to start with good governance of grass-root government and establish the idea of the rule of law; to start with innovative social governance and establish a complete participation system of the third party; to start with the orientation of assessment of letters and visits and let it change from quantity-oriented to quality-oriented; to start with the institution of assessment and make it change from oppressed to incentive.