Hou Huiqin: New Achievements in Early-Warning Research on Ideological Security Risks
Success in all matters depends on prior preparation; without it, failure is inevitable [1]. As an extremely important task in the process of socialist modernization, ideology is a key area where security risk early warning must be strengthened. The current world is in a period of turbulent change where instability and chaos are intertwined; uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing, and the need for early warning of major risks has become even more urgent. It is the responsibility of theoretical workers to actively respond to the many major challenges brought by the "changes unseen in a century" [2], effectively advance our country's ideological construction, and create a favorable environment of thought and public opinion for advancing Chinese-path modernization. Research on Early Warning of China's Ideological Security Risks during the Period of Social Transformation (People's Press, September 2022 edition), authored by Professor Zhao Huanchun of Nanjing Audit University, is based on the transformations of the era and social evolution. It explores the issue of early warning for ideological security risks, integrating deep academic reflection with vivid observations of reality. By attending to both grand narratives and daily life, it represents a beneficial exploration for the scientific understanding of contemporary ideological security risk early warning.
(I) Persisting in the Unity of Problem-Orientation and Goal-Orientation Practice demonstrates that major risks faced by contemporary society often involve a wide range of factors, possess great potential for harm, and carry a certain degree of contingency that is difficult to predict fully. Regarding the historical coordinates in which China currently stands, major risk issues existing in the economic, political, cultural, social, ecological, and technological spheres may all be reflected and manifested in the ideological domain, becoming deep-seated roots of ideological security risks. Meanwhile, as an important component of holistic national security, ideological security reflects the fundamental attributes and security demands of the state. Closely surrounding the major question of the era—"what flag to fly and what path to take"—the author examines ideological security risks within the world-historical position of the current "changes unseen in a century," highlighting its global significance in the historical progression of socialism. By placing this major thematic research within the historical coordinates of our country's modernization process, the work characterizes the historical responsibility and future commitment of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
(II) Embodying the Combination of Inheritance and Innovation Only by establishing a "Big View of History" [3] can one analyze the mechanisms of evolution and explore the laws of development amidst the tides of the era and global shifts, thereby proposing effective strategic responses. Proceeding from the reality of our country's transition from a planned economy to a socialist market economy, this book proposes the innovative academic viewpoint of the "non-traditional turn of China's ideological security during the period of social transformation," subsequently constructing a basis for ideological security risk research rooted in historical materialism. It not only provides a profound interpretation of the epochal connotations of preventing socialist ideological security risks and innovatively proposes a new perspective for ideological security research—early warning—but also, by accurately grasping the focus of ideological security on contemporary China, reveals the deductive logic of chain-like risk early warning: from the "post-industrial era" to "social transformation," then to "ideological transformation," and finally to "the era's call for a security outlook based on early warning." This book possesses both theoretical appeal and practical persuasiveness, making it a masterpiece of upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground in this research field.
(III) Pursuing the Alignment of Academic Rigor and Political Principle The book analyzes the dialectical relationship between ideological security, national security, and national governance. Guided by national political security, it proposes several new judgments with strong explanatory power. For instance: ideology, as the spiritual core of the state, permeates the entire organism of the state like blood, defining the state's essential attributes, guiding its direction of action, and externalizing as the state's image. Regarding the overall structure of the state, ideological security is the soul of the national security system, possessing functions such as heterogenous immunity, political guidance, and economic regulation, promoting the healthy operation of the national organism. At the level of specific strategies, the book proposes methods and paths such as "occupying the commanding heights," "seizing the point of entry," "consolidating the point of focus," and "identifying the breakthrough point," using scholarship to discuss politics and providing a policy basis for seizing the initiative in socialist ideological security.
(IV) Promoting the Fusion of Knowledge and Value Ideological security risks "originate in thought, are contested in the hearts of the people, fought in public opinion, established in institutions, hidden in quantitative changes, and manifested in politics." Based on our country's reality and integrating the trends and mainstream methods of international security studies, the book discusses four categories, five dynamic variables, and the analytical method of mechanism coupling in ideological security risk research. It discusses the temporal, spatial, and conscious structures of socialist ideological security risks. This "modular" and "structured" research approach seeks to unify knowledge and value within a narrative system of truth. This to a large extent breaks through the dualistic tendency of knowledge and value found in similar Western research. Knowledge is by no means "value-neutral," and value never deviates from truth. While expanding the intellectual connotations of ideological security risks and achieving a holistic grasp of the cognition of ideological security risks to the greatest extent possible, the book embodies the value demands of a socialist state and provides analytical tools for scientifically grasping ideological security.
(V) Advancing the Combination of Scientificity and Practicality The terrifying nature of ideological security risks lies in the fact that they originate in thought and accumulate through quantitative changes, yet once they explode, they result in the "destruction of the Party and the state." This kind of subversive qualitative change triggered by imperceptible quantitative changes is often unexpected and sudden. Once such a risk appears, it leaves people stunned and at a loss, as the saying goes: "usually invisible, but occasionally revealing its ferocious features" [4]. Therefore, the scientificity and practicality of risk early warning are extremely important. The book creates operational paradigms with practical significance, such as the "three-dimensional structural model," "risk determination model," and "risk early warning exercise model" for ideological security risks. On this basis, it constructs the systems and mechanisms for ideological security risk early warning, allowing "scientificity" and "practicality" to be well-unified.
Of course, as a frontier and complex major subject, the achievements of this book are still preliminary. Regarding the work itself, there is room for further refinement in how problems are precisely defined, how arguments are fully substantiated, and how theoretical generalizations are formulated. Many ideological viewpoints proposed by the author still require further deliberation and scientific demonstration; there remains space for further expansion in both theoretical and practical dimensions.