Gong Weibin: Original Contributions of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Expositions on Promoting the Modernization of the National Governance System and Governance Capacity
Advancing the modernization of national governance involves the modernization of two dimensions: the system of national governance and the capacity for governance. At the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping first proposed the major theoretical proposition of "modernizing the national governance system and capacity." The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee made specialized arrangements for upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and capacity. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, using the reform of the economic system as a lever, made important arrangements for reforms in all fields of socialism with Chinese characteristics, further deepening our understanding of the laws governing the advancement of the modernization of the national governance system and capacity. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on this subject are a vital achievement of the "Two Combinations" [1], constituting an essential component of Xi Jinping's Sochialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and representing a major original contribution.
Enriching and Developing Marxist Theory
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on advancing the modernization of the national governance system and capacity have enriched and developed the Marxist theory of the state. Classical Marxist authors committed themselves to overthrowing the old world of bourgeois rule and establishing a new world led by the proletariat. Their theory of the state was built on the foundation of historical materialism, utilizing the method of class analysis to reveal that the essence of the capitalist state is a tool for class oppression. Due to the inherent and insurmountable contradictions of capitalist relations of production, the demise of the bourgeois state and the establishment of the socialist state are equally a historical necessity. Owing to the constraints of their historical conditions, Marx and Engels did not systematically elaborate on how to govern a socialist state; however, their theory of the state contains the germ of national governance thought. Marx pointed out that governance exists for the sake of the state, rather than the state existing for the sake of governance. Lenin conducted theoretical reflections and practical explorations regarding the construction and governance of the Soviet socialist state, leaving behind a precious intellectual legacy for socialist national governance. On the basis of upholding Marxism and rooted in the practice of governing a socialist country with Chinese characteristics, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions have put forward a complete and systematic body of thought on national governance, enriching and developing the Marxist theory of the state.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions have enriched and developed the Marxist understanding of the laws governing the movement of social contradictions and deepened the understanding of the relationship between the state and society. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that further comprehensively deepening reform must "encourage the relations of production and the productive forces, the superstructure and the economic base, and national governance and social development to better adapt to one another, so as to provide a powerful impetus and institutional guarantee for Chinese-path modernization." This creative proposal that "national governance and social development better adapt to one another" forms a progressive relationship alongside "relations of production and productive forces" and "superstructure and economic base." It not only highlights its value as a principle but also underscores its contemporary significance, representing a major theoretical innovation of fundamental, foundational, and decisive importance for historical materialism. Marxism maintains that the contradictions between the productive forces and the relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, are the basic contradictions of human society; the fundamental driving force of social progress lies in the movement of these basic social contradictions. National governance belongs to the superstructure and is the part of the superstructure characterized by subjectivity and initiative. The emphasis placed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee on promoting the better adaptation of national governance and social development reflects the CPC's strong sense of historical initiative. This is manifested in actively responding to social concerns in the face of changes in the principal contradiction [2] in society, persisting in further comprehensively deepening reform, consciously innovating modes of national governance, breaking through institutional and mechanistic obstacles in the modernization process, and better promoting economic and social development so that the people may lead happy and beautiful lives, thereby realizing the free and comprehensive development of the individual.
Summarizing and Sublimating China’s Experience in National Governance
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, under the firm leadership of the CPC, the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up and becoming prosperous to becoming strong; socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era. The historical achievements made and the historical transformations that have occurred in China’s development fully demonstrate that China’s national governance possesses unique advantages. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee comprehensively summarized the thirteen areas of significant advantages possessed by China's state system and national governance system. These are primarily reflected in upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party, upholding the people's status as masters of the country, upholding the comprehensive rule of law, upholding the "whole country as a single chessboard" [3], upholding the equality of all ethnic groups, and upholding the people-centered philosophy of development. These significant advantages stem from the nourishment of the fine traditional Chinese culture nurtured over more than 5,000 years of civilization, from the profound summary of the historical lessons of modern China, and from the long-term exploration conducted by the people under the leadership of the CPC for over 100 years. Under the guidance of scientific Marxist theory, in the 70-plus years since the founding of the PRC, and especially since the start of the New Era, we have successfully opened up a new realm of national governance.
Standing at the historical starting point of the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to "uphold and improve the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advance the modernization of the national governance system and capacity," systematically summarizing and distilling China’s unique experience in national governance. The most important and fundamental aspect of this is strengthening institutional building and leveraging institutional advantages. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In governing a country, institutions play a fundamental, holistic, and long-term role." "Institutional advantage is a country’s greatest advantage, and institutional competition is the most fundamental competition between states." The national governance system and governance capacity are the concentrated expression of a country’s institutions and its capacity to execute those institutions; the two form an organic whole and complement each other. Only with a good national governance system can governance capacity be improved, and only by improving national governance capacity can the efficacy of the national governance system be fully realized.
The foundation of our governance of the state is the leadership of the CPC and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Our national governance system and capacity are the concentrated expression of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and its enforcement capacity. Our national governance system is an institutional system for managing the country under the leadership of the Party. It includes the institutional mechanisms and legal arrangements in various fields such as economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization construction, as well as Party building. It involves all aspects of reform, development, and stability; domestic affairs, foreign policy, and national defense; and the governance of the Party, the state, and the military. It is a complete set of state institutions that are both functionally distinct and closely interconnected. Those involving the overall situation include fundamental, basic, and important institutions. Among these, regarding fundamental institutions, the system of Party leadership is our country's fundamental leadership institution; the system of People's Congresses is our country’s fundamental political institution, and so on. Basic institutions include basic political institutions such as the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation led by the CPC, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance; as well as basic economic systems such as the system in which public ownership plays the dominant role while diverse forms of ownership develop together, the system in which distribution according to work is the mainstay while multiple modes of distribution coexist, and the socialist market economy system. Important institutions are specific, subjective institutions in various fields and aspects of national governance derived from the fundamental and basic institutions. At present, further comprehensively deepening reform must take institutional building as the main thread, consolidating fundamental institutions, improving basic institutions, and innovating important institutions, so as to advance the modernization of the national governance system and capacity in the practice of upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This has deepened our understanding of the laws governing the modernization of national governance, as well as the laws of the CPC's governance, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of the development of human society.
Expanding and Deepening Modern Governance Theory
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on advancing the modernization of the national governance system and capacity are both the latest achievements in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism and the latest developments in modern governance theory. They provide new theoretical support for the development of human society, particularly for developing countries seeking to achieve the modernization of governance.
Modern governance theory emphasizes focusing on efficiency on the basis of fairness and justice, requiring the optimization of governance structures and the re-engineering of governance processes. Under the dominance of Western academic discourse, theories of public management, public governance, and new public governance have become widely popular internationally, even serving as the theoretical basis for public sector reforms in some countries. The practice of public governance over the past few decades shows that Western governance theories have not brought about many major changes to the modernization of governance in various countries, providing at most only localized "patchwork" fixes. Some countries that blindly adopted these theories found they were not suited to local conditions (shuitu bufu), resulting in negative consequences.
Differing from Western governance theories, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions focus on institutional building, maintaining that "institutional advantage is an important advantage for a country to win the strategic initiative" and "if institutions are stable, the country is stable; if institutions are strong, the country is strong." Establishing and improving a scientific and rational institutional system and giving play to its due effectiveness—thereby achieving the "rule of institutions"—is an inherent requirement and key task of national governance modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s expositions focus on holistic planning, possessing a broad historical vision and forward-looking strategic thinking. They emphasize grasping the overall situation and trends, coordinating the whole and the parts, and connecting the past, present, and future. They focus on both details and the whole, and value direction and methodology even more than technology and processes. These expositions focus on systemic thinking, emphasizing the links between governance structures and various elements. They value both the "trees" and the "forest," both community-level exploration and top-level design, and both the governance of affairs and the development of people, breaking through the linear thinking and technical bias of existing governance theories.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions emphasize upholding the principle of "the people first" (renmin zhishang), possessing a distinct people-oriented character. Only by governing the country for the people and by relying on the people can the Party gain the support and backing of the people, ensuring long-term peace and stability for the country and happiness for the people. National construction is a common undertaking for all people, and the process of national development is also a process of sharing the results among all people. We must persist in a people-centered approach and respect the people's principal status and pioneering spirit. These expositions also emphasize upholding the rule of law, pointing out that the rule of law is the basic means of governing the country and an important support for the national governance system and capacity. We must advance the modernization of the national governance system and capacity on the track of the rule of law, using the Constitution and laws to confirm and consolidate the country's fundamental, basic, and important institutions, and ensuring their implementation through the coercive power of the state. This guarantees the systematic, standardized, coordinated, and stable nature of the national governance system. We must persist in the integrated construction of a law-based state, government, and society. Furthermore, the expositions emphasize "upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground." The times are developing, the environment is changing, and the people's aspirations for a better life will become even stronger; national governance must constantly adjust and optimize to adapt to new trends and requirements of social development through modernized national governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Reform and opening up is the important 'magic weapon' for contemporary China to catch up with the times in great strides." Further comprehensively deepening reform must adhere to upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground; this is a major principle that must be firmly grasped and consistently maintained. Upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground are dialectically unified: only by upholding the fundamentals can we ensure that innovation always moves in the correct direction; only through continuous innovation can we better uphold the fundamentals. Reform has direction and principles; what should be changed must be changed resolutely, and what should not be changed must not be changed.
Providing Chinese Wisdom for the Modernization of National Governance in Different Countries
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions are based on China while observing the world; they are a dialectical unity of particularity and universality, possessing theoretical and practical significance that transcends national borders, time, and space.
Proposing a new theory. Advancing the modernization of the national governance system and capacity is a category and theory of philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics, style, and flair. The national governance theory—composed of categories such as national governance, the national governance system, national governance capacity, and the modernization of both—possesses a distinct Chinese identity and constitutes China's independent knowledge system. The proposal of the concept of national governance and its theoretical system has broken the Western discourse hegemony over governance theory, providing a new paradigm and new thinking for the innovative development of governance theory, leading its direction, and avoiding the "discourse traps" of the West.
Expanding into new fields. National governance theory has significantly broadened the scope of governance research. National governance covers a wide range, is highly inclusive, possesses distinct levels, and includes diverse types. It is an expansion of the theories of "state rule" (guojia tongzhi) and "state management" (guojia guanli), breaking through the limitations of dualistic or "either-or" thinking. At the same time, it is also an expansion and elevation of public management theory.
Matching the concept of "the state" with "governance" [4] and incorporating the political party as the primary subject into the field of governance research highlights the political, systemic, holistic, structural, and coordinated nature of governance. It emphasizes the standardization, legalization, and modernization of governance methods. State governance connects the macro levels of political rule, government management, and public governance with the meso levels of urban governance, municipal-territorial governance, and urban-rural governance, as well as the micro levels of primary-level governance [5], community governance, rural governance, and corporate governance. By integrating governance practices across these different levels from macro to micro, it represents a breakthrough over singular governance methods and localized governance fields. The broad research scope and rich thematic substance of state governance provide new space for expanding international academic exchange.
It constructs a new platform. Since the dawn of the modern era, the realization of modernization has been a universal pursuit for countries worldwide. Accompanied by this, people have begun to attach importance to issues such as state-building and state capacity. State governance concerns both the fate of individual nations and the collective future of humanity; once proposed, it attracted the attention of experts and scholars at home and abroad, becoming another major subject in the development process of the modern state. The successful practice of Chinese-path modernization—particularly the creation of the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability [6]—has drawn widespread international attention to China’s state governance, specifically to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on advancing the modernization of the state governance system and governance capacity. Guided by these expositions, China's philosophy and social sciences community is starting from the disciplinary, academic, and discourse systems to push theoretical research on state governance to become increasingly profound, substantive, and innovative, thereby building a new platform for international academic exchange.
It shares new experiences. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "What kind of governance system a country chooses is determined by that country's historical inheritance, cultural traditions, and level of economic and social development, and it is decided by the people of that country." Although countries differ in history, culture, and systems, they should all coexist in harmony and treat one another as equals; they should respect and learn from each other to achieve common development and shared prosperity. Throughout the 5,000-year history of the Chinese nation's civilization, openness, inclusiveness, and the drawing of lessons from others have always been the main themes. A spirit as broad as the sea [7] has fostered a continuous and profound Chinese civilization, paved the way for Chinese-path modernization, and created a new form of human civilization. The theory of state governance is closely linked to socialism with Chinese characteristics, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Chinese-path modernization, and the further comprehensive deepening of reform. The advancement of state governance modernization is unified with the process of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. Centering on the theory of state governance, we must strengthen international academic exchange and effectively tell the China story and the CPC story of the New Era to the world, contributing Chinese experience and Chinese wisdom to global state governance.
(The author is Vice President of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China (National Academy of Governance))
Source: People's Daily (February 13, 2025, Page 09) Web Editor: Huihui