The Expansion Of Administrative Power In Modern Local Autonomy

During most of the ancient times in China,“the imperial power never goes below the county”,and the grass-roots society remains semi-autonomous state,in which ordinary people are almost not subject to the constraints of administrative power except for tax and litigation.However,ever since the modern times,this kind of semi-autonomous state in the grass-roots society has been impacted.Although public power is not as obviously strong as previous,the penetration to the grass-roots society is deeper,the impact is more powerful and the control is stronger.Administrative power has shifted from the relatively loose administration to the implementation of the single function of the constraints(such as the early police station under the county),and thus it has achieved the all-round penetration.This paper examines the practices of modern local autonomy and takes Licheng County as an example to study the manifestations,reasons and influences of administrative power expansion in the grass-roots society,as well as the inspiration on how to deal with the relationship between administrative power and civil rights in our country today.In the modern local autonomy movement of Licheng County,the expansion of administrative power in the grass-roots society is mainly manifested in the influence of the administrative organs on the autonomous organizations,including the appointment and dismissal of the grass-roots level governors from the aspect of personnel,the supervision from the aspect of the operation of the autonomous organization(such as the record inspection of the staff,the decision to change the grass-roots elections,etc.),and the allowance and award systems for the staff from the aspect of self-government funding.Like the local autonomy movement in the late Qing Dynasty,it is both a subjective act of the government and an objective condition.Lowering the public power is also a combination of the subjective and objective factors.Historically,the rulers have always wanted to strengthen their own rule,but the objective conditions such as traffic,geography and other factors,do not allow them.Ever since modern times,especially the late Qing Dynasty,the prestige of the rulers has been challenged by both foreign factors and the internal factors.The former include foreign aggression and the impact of foreign culture,and the latter include the appeal of the reformist,the pressure of the revolution and so on.The completion of Jiaoji Railway during the reign of Qing Guangxu,the unprecedented improvement of other traffic environment,and the development of modern telegraph,telephone and other communications have facilitated not only the administrative uploading and releasing but also the management of administrative power in the grass-roots society.Meanwhile,a series of objective conditions such as the lack of awareness of the rights among the grass-roots people and the strength of traditional Chinese power make the expansion of administrative power at the grass-roots level possible.The expansion of modern administrative power at the grass-roots level makes the autonomous institutions into a mere appendage of the administrative institutions.The modern local autonomy also fail due to the over intervention of the administrative power and the civil rights are further compressed.By studying the modern local autonomy practice in Licheng County,it can be concluded that in the aspect of standardization and institutionalization of modern administrative power,it is necessary to rationally allocate the state administrative power,realize the effective supervision and restriction of power,give full play to the role of the middle groups,effectively protect the rights and interests of citizens,and cultivate the constitutional awareness of the citizens through autonomous practices.