[Original] Liu Shiqiang and Zhou Jie: Continuously Enhancing the People's Capacity to Participate in Whole-Process People's Democracy
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made strategic deployments regarding the improvement of the institutional system for whole-process people's democracy, explicitly proposing to "enrich forms of democracy at all levels and ensure that the principle of the people being masters of the country is manifested concretely and realistically in all aspects of national political and social life." The people are the masters of the state and the primary subjects of democratic practice. Developing whole-process people's democracy must adhere to a people-centered approach, continuously enhancing the ability of the people to participate in democratic practice, and coalescing a powerful force to advance Chinese-path modernization.
I. Enhancing the subjective consciousness of the people to participate in whole-process people's democracy through extensive publicity and education
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "If the people have only the right to vote but no right of extensive participation, or if they are only awakened at the time of voting and enter a dormant period thereafter, such a democracy is formalistic." Only by cultivating the people’s subjective consciousness through extensive and sustained publicity and education—enabling the masses to consciously participate in every process and link of democratic practice—can the superiority of the socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics be demonstrated. We must strengthen ideological arming to enhance the people's scientific cognition of whole-process people's democracy. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has focused on whole-process people's democracy to propose a series of new ideas, viewpoints, and judgments, forming a rich and systematic theoretical system of people's democracy. To enhance the people's subjective consciousness for participation, the foremost task is to strengthen the publicity and interpretation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on whole-process people's democracy. This will deepen the masses' understanding and mastery of whole-process people's democracy in its values, organization, and institutions, forming the concepts and capacities for a correct understanding and scientific evaluation of people's democracy.
Emphasis must be placed on the guidance of values to enhance the people's emotional identification with whole-process people's democracy. Faced with the chaos triggered by Western countries' vigorous global promotion of "Western-style democracy," General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out with clear-cut conviction: "There are many ways to achieve democracy; it is impossible to have a single model for all." Enhancing the people's subjective consciousness for participation requires continuously highlighting the civilizational foundations and Chinese characteristics of whole-process people's democracy. By extensively publicizing the historic achievements of whole-process people's democracy since the founding of the People's Republic, and particularly in the New Era, we can continuously strengthen the masses' confidence in the system and their resolve to participate.
We must adhere to a practice-oriented approach to enhance the people's behavioral initiative in participating in whole-process people's democracy. We should focus on the immediate interests of the people—those most direct and realistic concerns—to strengthen education in democracy and the rule of law. This will encourage the masses to form a consciousness of law, rules, and citizenship consistent with their needs for a better life. It will clarify the procedures and rules for democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic oversight [1], allowing the people to reflect their aspirations, safeguard their rights, and increase their well-being through scientific and effective democratic practice.
II. Strengthening the institutional guarantee for the people's participation through reform of systems and mechanisms
The development of socialist democratic politics aims to reflect the will of the people, protect their rights and interests, and stimulate their creative vitality, using an institutional system to ensure the people are the masters of the country. From the perspective of institutional design, since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has accelerated the normalization [2] and proceduralization of democratic politics, forming a comprehensive, broad, and organically linked institutional system for the people as masters of the country, effectively ensuring their status. At the same time, it must be recognized that democratic systems are historical and evolving; we must focus on the new expectations and requirements of the masses for political participation, continuously refining the institutional system of whole-process people's democracy through further comprehensively deepening reform.
We must strengthen the construction of institutions through which the people act as masters of the country. We must continuously enrich the channels and forms through which deputies to the People's Congresses connect with the masses, improving work mechanisms for absorbing public opinion and pooling the wisdom of the people. This includes the institutionalization and standardization of deputy liaison mechanisms and platforms for expressing public opinion, such as "Homes for People's Congress Deputies," "Deputy Liaison Stations," and grassroots-level contact points for legislation and supervision. These allow deputies to effectively publicize the Party Central Committee’s major principles, policies, and national development goals while conducting extensive grassroots investigations. This, in turn, drives the masses to offer suggestions for the reform and development of their respective industries and fields, ensuring that the people's voices and wisdom are transmitted efficiently and smoothly to every link of decision-making, execution, and oversight.
We must improve the mechanisms of consultative democracy. We should encourage consultative work—including People's Congress consultation, government consultation, and CPPCC [3] consultation—to extend to the grassroots level. The focus of consultation should be on the urgent problems and anxieties of the masses. We should promote deep interaction and full expression of opinions between experts, social organizations, and grassroots representatives before major decisions are made and during their implementation. We must perfect the working mechanisms for people's organizations to participate in various consultative channels and the coordination mechanisms for grassroots consultative democracy, using the institutional advantages of grassroots consultation to stimulate the new momentum of the people for self-governance through consultation.
We must improve the system of grassroots democracy. We need to refine the institutional and working systems of grassroots democracy, clarifying the content, procedures, and forms of the people's participation. By broadening channels for orderly public participation in grassroots governance and providing fairer opportunities, more diverse platforms, and higher efficiency, we can enhance the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the masses. This will cultivate their political quality and participatory capacity through the most direct, extensive, and vivid democratic practices.
III. Stimulating the vitality of the people's participation through economic and social development
In practical terms, democracy is a mass practice that unfolds under specific socio-historical conditions and is inevitably influenced by factors such as the level of economic development and historical cultural traditions. Standing at a new historical starting point, we must adopt a systems perspective to coordinate construction in all fields, stimulating the vitality of the people's participation through stable economic and social development.
We must solidly promote High-quality Development to solidify the material foundation for the people's participation in whole-process people's democracy. General Secretary Xi Jinping has noted: "The political system of a country is determined by its economic and social base." As an important part of the superstructure, whole-process people's democracy likewise cannot exist without the powerful support of economic development. On the new journey, we should firmly grasp new quality productive forces as a key lever for promoting High-quality Development. By using a series of new technologies, industries, and business models to shape new advantages and momentum for China's economic development, we will promote the formation of commensurate new relations of production, providing a solid economic base and material guarantee for the people's broad participation.
We must continuously elevate the level of social civilization to coalesce the spiritual strength for participation. A country's democratic model is highly correlated with its historical and cultural traditions. We should deeply mine the democratic modes of thinking, intellectual elements, and practical experiences contained within fine traditional Chinese culture to deepen the cultural roots of whole-process people's democracy. We should stimulate the cultural innovative and creative vitality of the entire nation, spreading the spirit of democracy through more and higher-quality cultural services and products, creating a value orientation and positive social atmosphere that respects, participates in, and develops democracy.
We must resolutely safeguard national security and social stability to create a favorable environment for participation. The historical experience of the development of human political civilization shows that security is the prerequisite and foundation of democracy. Absent a harmonious and stable social environment, any democratic model will lose its luster, malfunction, or even fail. We should follow the guidance of the Overall State Security Outlook, earnestly fortifying the popular base for national security and effectively preventing risks in all fields facing the people's participation. We should strengthen the legal guarantee for whole-process people's democracy, ensuring the people exercise democratic rights and fulfill democratic obligations within the orbit of the rule of law, resolving contradictions and conflicts in democratic practice through legal means to maintain social harmony and stability.
IV. Enriching the methods of participation through the application of technological innovation
Technology is a vital condition for the realization of democracy. From "counting beans" [4] to electronic voting, from "the masses running errands" to "data running errands," the forms and channels of democratic participation in China have expanded alongside the development of science and technology, making people’s democracy more compassionate, extensive, and effective. With the vigorous development of the new round of technological revolution, we must accelerate the technological empowerment of whole-process people's democracy, continuously enhancing the sense of participation and gain among the masses.
We must use technological innovation to improve participatory efficiency and lower the costs of participation. The people’s needs for a better life are multifaceted and multi-dimensional, and practical activities in different fields imply different opportunity costs. We should promote the broad application of emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing—within whole-process people's democracy. These should be effectively integrated into the entire process of democratic elections, consultation, decision-making, management, and oversight, increasing the speed and efficiency of integrating aspirations, deliberating matters, and providing feedback, thereby reducing the time and economic costs for the masses.
We must use technological innovation to broaden participatory channels and increase convenience. By building integrated platforms such as "Digital People's Congress," "Digital CPPCC," and "Digital Government" that are vertically integrated, horizontally comprehensive, and collaboratively advanced, we can form democratic participation mechanisms characterized by two-way interaction, multi-party governance, and integrated development. This provides more flexible and convenient channels for the expression of the people's demands, coordination of interests, and protection of rights. We should promote the popularization of digital democratic platforms, expanding the spatial and temporal boundaries for participation by people in rural and remote mountainous areas, ensuring their rights to equal participation and equal development.
We must use technological innovation to enrich the modes of participation and stimulate the enthusiasm of the people. We need to provide more networked, digital, and intelligent technological products so that the masses can adapt to democratic practices in different fields, participate in large-scale discussions, and promote more scientific democratic decision-making. We should leverage the decentralized, scenario-based, and large-scale characteristics and advantages of emerging technologies to provide specialized services for groups of different ages, genders, and industries, continuously meeting the personalized democratic needs of the people.