Sun Jing: Promoting the Construction of a Higher-Level Peaceful China through the Modernization of Primary-Level Governance
Grassroots governance is the bedrock of national governance, and the level of modernization in grassroots governance directly impacts the level of modernization in national governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to grassroots governance work, emphasizing that "we must strictly grasp the foundational work of grassroots governance modernization" and "excel in the Party building-led grassroots governance and the construction of grassroots political power." The "Proposals" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [1] clarified the primary objectives for economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, which include the solid advancement of a higher-level Peaceful China construction [2], and made important deployments for improving the social governance system, requiring the strengthening of Party building-led grassroots governance and grassroots political power construction. This year marks the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan." Whether implementing the requirements proposed in the "Proposals" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee to "effectively prevent and defuse various risks, enhance economic and social resilience, and guarantee the new development pattern with a new security pattern," or implementing the key tasks proposed by the Central Economic Work Conference at the end of last year to "persist in holding the bottom line and actively yet prudently defuse risks in key areas," all are inseparable from grassroots governance. To this end, we must profoundly grasp the requirements of Party building-led grassroots governance and assist in the construction of a higher-level Peaceful China through the modernization of grassroots governance.
Persist in Party building leadership. The leadership of the Party is the fundamental guarantee for the construction of a Peaceful China. Advancing the modernization of grassroots governance must leverage the Party's core leadership role in overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties, ensuring that the Party's leadership runs through every aspect and the entire process of grassroots governance, striving to let the masses enjoy a beautiful life in an environment that is both stable and orderly yet full of vitality. We must bring into play the role of grassroots Party organizations as "combat bastions" [3] and the role of Party members as "vanguard models," comprehensively improving the ability and level of urban and rural grassroots Party organizations to lead grassroots governance. Focus on using the Party's innovative theories to study new situations and solve new problems, while simultaneously exploring and deepening methods such as "grid-based Party building" [4], taking the "grid" as the basic unit for strengthening governance and serving the masses. We should carry out the investigation and rectification of hidden risks to achieve real-time perception and supervision of daily work and the timely handling of "difficult and complicated maladies" [5], effectively transforming the Party's political advantages, organizational advantages, and its advantage in maintaining close ties with the masses [6] into grassroots governance efficacy.
Coalesce the synergy of collaborative governance. Grassroots governance under the leadership of Party building is not about the Party organization taking everything on itself [7]; rather, it is about continuously improving a social governance system characterized by "Party committee leadership, government responsibility, democratic consultation, social coordination, public participation, rule of law guarantee, and technological support." This requires constructing a social governance pattern of "co-construction, co-governance, and sharing" [8], mobilizing and organizing forces from all sides to participate together, fully stimulating the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of multiple governance subjects, and broadly coalescing synergy. Persist in and develop the "Fengqiao Experience" in the New Era [9], solidly advance the standardized construction of integrated social management centers, and perform well in the prevention and resolution of contradictions and disputes. Persist in the principle that the masses are the subjects of grassroots governance, extensively carry out activities such as "villager discussions" and "people's sentiment chats," and organize and mobilize the masses through various institutional arrangements and methods. Encourage citizens, enterprises, and social organizations to offer suggestions for policy formulation and effect evaluation, building a social governance community where everyone has a responsibility, everyone does their duty, and everyone shares in the benefits. This will effectively convey social conditions and public opinion, balance the interests of all parties, and allow the broad masses of the people to jointly share the dividends brought by effective social governance.
Strengthen the guarantee of the rule of law. Faced with developments and changes in the situations and tasks within the field of social governance, only by consistently adhering to governance according to law and employing rule-of-law thinking and methods to prevent risks, resolve contradictions, and maintain social stability can we provide a more solid guarantee for grassroots governance. Conduct in-depth research on the laws and characteristics of grassroots governance under new circumstances, improve grassroots governance policies and regulations, and promote a legal system in the field of social governance that is more systematic, complete, scientific, standardized, and effective in operation. Improve the public legal service system covering both urban and rural areas, striving to provide the masses with multi-layered, wide-ranging, and high-quality legal services. Fully utilize legal means such as mediation, arbitration, administrative adjudication, administrative reconsideration, litigation, and legal supervision to achieve the "settling of differences and stopping of disputes" [10] within the orbit of the rule of law. Actively carry out education and publicity regarding the rule of law, using various online and offline forms to provide real-time and precise legal dissemination, so that the supply of legal popularization continuously meets the rule-of-law needs of the masses, fostering a sound consciousness and habit among the people of handling affairs according to the law, seeking the law when encountering problems, using the law to solve problems, and relying on the law to resolve contradictions.
Strengthen technological empowerment. Technology is a powerful engine for enhancing the efficacy of grassroots governance; it can improve the quality and efficiency of grassroots governance, better satisfy the people's needs for safety, fairness, and justice, and enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security in the process of social development and progress. Focus on the urgent needs and expectations of the masses, strengthen the construction of integrated online and offline platforms, and promote information interconnection and the sharing of data resources under the premise of ensuring security, so that science and technology can better empower social governance. Fully utilize digital technologies such as cloud computing and big data, and through methods such as developing intelligent risk prediction and early warning models, strengthen the dynamic monitoring and analytical judgment of various types of hidden risks. Enhance capabilities for intelligent perception, risk early warning, and event disposal, making social governance more foresighted, precise, and efficient.