How to promote the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee put forward: "The overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the Socialism with Chinese characteristics system and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity." It is of great and far-reaching theoretical and practical significance for China's political development and even China's socialist modernization to take the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity as the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform.

Connotation essence

Emphasizing "state governance" instead of "state rule" and "social governance" instead of "social management" is not a simple change of words, but a change of ideas. "Modernization of national governance system and governance capacity" is a brand-new political concept, which shows that our party has a new understanding of the law of social and political development, is an important innovation of Marxist state theory, and is also an important theoretical symbol of the transformation of China's * * * production party from a revolutionary party to a ruling party. Practically speaking, governance reform is an important part of political reform, and the modernization of national governance system is also an important part of political modernization. Promoting the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity will inevitably require a breakthrough in the country's administrative system, decision-making system, judicial system, budget system and supervision system.

Theoretically speaking, the concept of governance is different from that of governance, and it is the general trend of human political development to move from governance to governance. "More governance and less governance" is an important feature of political changes in major countries in the world in the 2/kloc-0 century. From the perspective of political science theory, there are five main differences between governance and governance. First, the subject of power is different and the subject of rule is single, that is, the public power of the government or other countries; The main body of governance is diverse, besides the government, there are also enterprise organizations, social organizations and residents' autonomous organizations. Second, the nature of power is different, and rule is mandatory; Governance can be mandatory, but it is more consultative. Third, the source of power is different, and the source of rule is mandatory national laws; In addition to laws, the sources of governance also include various non-state compulsory contracts. Fourth, the dimensions of power operation are different. The power operation of governance is top-down, and the power operation of governance can be top-down, but more parallel. Fifth, their functions are different. The scope of governance is bounded by the field of government power, and the scope of governance is bounded by the public domain. The latter is much broader than the former.

In social and political life, governance is an instrumental political behavior. No matter what kind of social and political system, no matter which class exercises rule and who is in power, they all hope to have higher administrative efficiency, lower administrative costs, better public services and more citizen support. In other words, everyone hopes that the country he is in power has good governance. Governance reform is an important part of political reform, and governance system is also an important part of political system. However, in the final analysis, governance is a means to achieve certain social and political goals. Compared with the national ruling system, the governance system is more instrumental and rational.

The national governance system is a series of systems and procedures to regulate the operation of social power and maintain public order. It includes a series of systems and procedures to regulate administrative behavior, market behavior and social behavior. Government governance, market governance and social governance are the three most important subsystems in the modern national governance system. Furthermore, the national governance system is an institutional system, including national administrative system, economic system and social system. Effective national governance involves three basic issues: who governs, how to govern and how to govern. These three issues are actually the three elements of the national governance system, namely, governance subject, governance mechanism and governance effect. The modern national governance system is an organic, coordinated, dynamic and integrated system operation system.

The ideal state of state governance is good governance. Good governance is different from the traditional political ideal of "good governance" or "benevolent governance". Good governance is the requirement of government governance, that is, good government. Good governance is the requirement of the whole society, which requires not only good governance by the government, but also good governance by the society. Simply put, good governance is the process of maximizing the public interest. Its essential feature is that the state and society are in the best state, and it is the coordinated governance of social and political affairs by the government and citizens. As a way for the government and citizens to cooperate in managing public affairs, good governance requires the joint efforts of the government and citizens, and with the development of society and political progress, citizens will play an increasingly important role in public affairs management. However, among all the power subjects, no power subject can be compared with the government. The government still plays a decisive role in achieving good governance. Good governance is the key to good governance; To achieve good governance, we must first achieve good governance.

To achieve the ideal goal of good governance, we must establish a modern governance system that meets the requirements of social and economic development, political development and cultural development, and realize the modernization of the national governance system. The modernization of national governance system is an inevitable requirement of social, political and economic modernization, and also an important symbol of political modernization. To measure whether a country's governance system is modern, there are at least the following five criteria. Firstly, the institutionalization and standardization of the operation of public power, which requires perfect institutional arrangements and standardized public order in government governance, enterprise governance and social governance; Second, democratization, that is, public governance and institutional arrangements must ensure that sovereignty lies with the people or the people are the masters of the country, and all public policies must fundamentally reflect the people's will and the people's dominant position; The third is the rule of law, that is, the Constitution and the law become the highest authority of public governance, and everyone is equal before the law, and no organization or individual is allowed to have the power beyond the law; The fourth is efficiency, that is, the national governance system should effectively maintain social stability and social order, which is conducive to improving administrative efficiency and economic benefits; The fifth is coordination. The modern national governance system is an organic institutional system. From the central government to the local government, from government governance to social governance, various institutional arrangements are coordinated and inseparable, and they are a unified whole. Among them, democracy is the essential feature of modern national governance system, and it is also the fundamental difference from traditional national governance system. Therefore, political scientists usually call modern state governance democratic governance.

The "national governance system and governance capacity" mentioned at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee actually refers to a country's institutional system and system implementation capacity. The national governance system and governance capacity are an organic whole. Promoting the modernization of the national governance system and enhancing the national governance capacity are two complementary aspects in the same political process. With a good national governance system, the country's governance capacity can be improved; On the contrary, only by improving the ability of national governance can the effectiveness of the national governance system be fully exerted. However, in addition to institutional factors, there is also an extremely important factor that affects the ability of state governance, and that is the quality of governance subjects, including the quality of officials and ordinary citizens. Judging from the quality of officials, even with the most complete national governance system, if the quality of officials is poor, the country's governance capacity will be weak, and society cannot have ideal good governance. To improve the quality of officials, it is necessary to educate and train officials, but it is more important to have a democratic selection mechanism, select outstanding citizens, empower them, and restrict the power of officials with systems.

Inevitable requirement

Promoting the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity is an inevitable requirement of Socialism with Chinese characteristics's modernization and political development. On the one hand, it is a theoretical summary of the successful experience of China's modernization in the past 35 years of reform and opening up, on the other hand, it is a positive response to all kinds of severe challenges faced by China in the new development stage.

Over the past 35 years of reform and opening-up, earth-shaking changes have taken place in China society, and great achievements in modernization have attracted worldwide attention, creating a miracle in the history of world economic development. One of the basic reasons why we have achieved such success is that we have not only made profound changes in the economic system reform, but also made major changes in the political system. China's reform and opening-up process is a holistic social change process including economic life, political life and cultural life. However, China's political reform is not the kind of political system reform understood by many western scholars, and it does not involve changes in the basic political framework. According to the standards of multi-party competition, universal suffrage and separation of powers, China's politics has really not changed in the past 30 years of reform and opening up. However, from the perspective of national governance, we will find that China's political life has also undergone major changes in the past 35 years. For example, we can see great changes in governing the country according to law, citizen participation, democratic decision-making, social governance, public services, government accountability, political transparency, administrative efficiency, government approval, decentralization and the development of social organizations. The success of China's economic development and social transformation, or that China can maintain its long-term economic development under the premise of basic social stability, first benefits from the success of China's governance reform.

After 35 years of reform and opening up, Socialism with Chinese characteristics's modernization has entered a new stage of development. Different interest groups have formed in society, and various conflicts of interest are becoming increasingly obvious. This means that we are facing many new and severe challenges in the national governance system and capacity. Taking government governance and social governance as examples, we can find that there are many outstanding problems to be solved urgently, including the basic democratic governance system such as election, consultation, decision-making and supervision, which is still not perfect, the public power has not been effectively restricted, the channels for citizens' participation are still not smooth, the phenomenon of public interests is quite serious, the corruption and privilege of officials are widespread, and the government's public services are still quite inadequate and lack of vitality. The political transparency is relatively low, the administrative cost is high and the efficiency is low, the social organization is underdeveloped, the degree of social autonomy is quite low, and the relationship between public power subjects is not coordinated enough, and so on.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee stressed the need to modernize the national governance system and governance capacity, indicating that our existing governance system and governance capacity are still relatively backward, unable to keep up with the pace of social modernization and unable to meet the people's growing political, economic, social, cultural and ecological requirements. If we do not take breakthrough reform measures to solve the urgent problems in national governance, then our current local governance crisis may evolve into a comprehensive governance crisis and ruling crisis. The fundamental way to resolve the governance crisis is to promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity with great political courage.

Necessary measures

How to promote the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity? The Decision of the Third Plenary Session is the general guiding ideology, a road map for comprehensive reform and a major strategic deployment. I would like to emphasize the following six necessary measures.

First, further emancipate the mind and strive to break through the shackles of outdated old concepts. Emancipating the mind is an inexhaustible source for a nation to maintain advanced theoretical thinking and stimulate spiritual vitality. Only by emancipating the mind can we break through the shackles of tradition and dogma and put forward new views and opinions. Governance system reform belongs to the category of political reform. Compared with other reforms, it is more politically sensitive and daunting. Emancipating the mind is particularly important. There is no end to the development of practice, and there is no end to emancipating the mind and reform and opening up. The "endless" mentioned in the Decision of the Third Plenary Session refers not only to the time dimension, but also to the space dimension. In terms of time, emancipating the mind and reform and opening up are an infinite process; In terms of space, emancipating the mind and reform and opening up involve various fields, including the political field, especially the governance field. To judge a new idea, concept, system and policy, we should first look at whether it is conducive to the country's prosperity and democracy, people's freedom and happiness, social fairness and justice, and whether it is conducive to building a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern power. As long as it is conducive to "promoting fairness and justice and enhancing people's well-being", new ideas and practices are worthy of attention and exploration. On the contrary, all institutional mechanisms that restrict social and political progress should be broken.

Second, strengthen the top-level design and strategically plan the modernization of the national governance system. As the decision points out, we should cross the river by feeling the stones and explore in practice. It is also necessary to strengthen top-level design and macro guidance. The governance system of a country is an institutional system, including political, economic, social, cultural, ecological and other fields. It is necessary to comprehensively consider and plan reform plans in various fields, and strengthen the leadership and guidance of the central macro-level on the reform of the governance system. Fragmentation, short-term behavior, multiple policies, departmentalism and localism are the fatal weaknesses of China's current governance system and public policies, which have seriously weakened the country's governance capacity. In view of this reality, top-level system design and macro guidance are particularly important for the modernization of the national governance system. It is necessary to strengthen the strategic research on the modernization of the national governance system, and formulate the road map and task list for the reform of the national governance system in stages according to the overall goal of the Decision. On the one hand, we should stand at the height of the fundamental interests of the country and the nation, transcend the interests of departments and regions, make overall plans and get rid of the shackles of vested interests. On the other hand, we can neither treat the symptoms of head and foot, nor do it rashly. We should discuss it extensively, take a long-term view and avoid short-term behavior.

Third, summarize the experience of local governance reform and innovation, and timely upgrade the excellent local governance innovation practice to the national system. Over the past 35 years of reform and opening up, we have made a lot of valuable explorations and accumulated a lot of valuable experience in government governance and social governance. However, many good governance reforms have been shelved or implemented only on a small scale because they have not risen to the national system. It is necessary to systematically sum up the experience of government governance reform at all levels, timely upgrade mature reform and innovation policies into laws and regulations, and solve the driving force of government governance and social governance reform and innovation from the system. Fundamentally speaking, the driving force of the reform and innovation of the national governance system comes from the impact of economic development, political progress, people's needs and globalization, but its direct driving force is pressure, incentive and system, among which system is a long-term driving force. The reform and innovation of government governance and social governance, no matter how effective and how supported by the masses, will be unsustainable in the end if it is not fixed and popularized in the form of system, and it is inevitable that "the people will take political interests" and become short-term behavior.

Fourthly, combining with China's specific national conditions, we should learn from the good experience of foreign government governance and social governance. The reform and innovation of government governance and social governance is a worldwide trend. Many countries have many successful experiences and profound lessons in this regard, which are worth learning from. We have always advocated learning all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, including of course the outstanding achievements of political civilization. Since the reform and opening up, many of our progress and achievements in establishing a modern national governance system have actually benefited from learning from foreign advanced experience. For example, the hearing system in the process of policy formulation, the one-stop service in public service, the government accountability system in the construction of responsible government, the lawyer system in judicial practice, the press spokesman system in the openness of government affairs and the participatory governance in social governance are all directly or indirectly introduced from western developed countries. We should have the mind and courage of Comrade Deng Xiaoping when he introduced the market economy, stand at the height of the country's prosperity, people's happiness and national rejuvenation, take the liberation and development of social productive forces and social vitality as the goal, recognize the development trend of the world, base ourselves on China's national conditions, and boldly learn from all the outstanding achievements of human political civilization.

Fifth, resolutely break the institutional mechanisms that hinder social progress, and establish and improve a modern national governance system that meets the requirements of Socialism with Chinese characteristics's modernization. The modernization of national governance system, the most important thing is the modernization of institutional mechanisms and the modernization of people. There are two basic factors that affect the level and efficiency of a country's governance, namely, the quality of the rulers and the governance system, both of which are indispensable. But in comparison, the system is more fundamental, because the system can transform people's quality and restrict the abuse of power and dereliction of duty of the rulers. Therefore, the key to the modernization of the national governance system lies in the reform and innovation of the system, that is, the breaking and establishment of the system. On the one hand, we should "take promoting fairness and justice and enhancing people's well-being as the starting point and the end result" and "resolutely get rid of the shortcomings of various systems and mechanisms", as the Third Plenary Session decided. Many existing governance systems and mechanisms are unreasonable, some of which violate the axioms of political science, while others seriously harm the interests of the state and citizens. For example, to this day, there are still some institutions that only have power but hardly take responsibility, and there are many phenomena such as multi-head policy, unclear responsibilities and misplaced functions. On the other hand, we should improve and perfect the government governance and social governance system according to the social development and the new requirements of the people. For example, the people's congress and the political consultation system are the fundamental and most basic political systems in our country. However, both of them are far from playing their due roles, mainly because many important institutional mechanisms are still missing or extremely imperfect. Many citizens' rights and interests stipulated in the constitution have not been well implemented, and the important reason lies in the lack of relevant implementation systems.

Sixth, break the concept of official standard and eliminate the pernicious influence of official standard. As far as the actual situation in China is concerned, the concept and phenomenon of official standard are important factors affecting the quality of the rulers. The official standard is a political culture and political system that has ruled our traditional society for a long time. Its essence is the power standard of officials. It is incompatible with modern political civilization and modern state governance based on civil rights, and runs counter to socialist political civilization. After 35 years of reform and opening up, China has made great progress in democracy and the rule of law, and socialist core values such as democracy, freedom, equality and justice are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. However, it is undeniable that there are still a large number of pernicious bureaucracies in reality, and in some fields and places, bureaucratic phenomena are even getting worse. The Decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee officially listed "breaking the concept of official standard" as an important task of reform, which can be said to be to the point. On the one hand, we should educate the general public, especially party and government officials at all levels, with socialist core values such as democracy, freedom, equality, justice, rule of law and harmony, get rid of power worship and firmly establish the concept of the supremacy of civil rights; On the other hand, it is necessary to rely on the system to curb the official standard phenomenon and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. While putting the power of officials in the cage of the system, we should use the system to build the Great Wall to protect civil rights.

The "Decision" pointed out that "by 2020, decisive results will be achieved in the reform of important areas and key links" and "a systematic, scientific and standardized system will be formed." In other words, the modernization of the national governance system will be initially realized in 2020. To complete this task within seven years, its arduousness can be imagined. To achieve this arduous strategic task, we need not only firm determination, strong leadership and decisive measures, but also broad mind, high wisdom and correct path. The modernization of the national governance system must go beyond the local interests of any organization or group and focus on the overall interests and long-term interests of the Chinese nation and all the people; It is necessary to concentrate the wisdom of both the whole party and the people of the whole country; Not only political elites, but also ordinary people should participate; We should not only rely on the strong political mobilization ability of the party organization, but also strictly follow the basic strategy of democratic governance, legal governance and scientific governance.

In short, only along the road of socialist democracy and rule of law can we truly realize the modernization of the national governance system; Conversely, the modernization process of the national governance system not only reflects the process of social modernization to a great extent, but also reflects the process of democracy and the rule of law in China to a great extent.