Study Of Anfu Congress

Anfu Congress is an important part of democratic politics, which has played anextremely important role during the process of Chinese democratization. It is aconditional outcome of China’s specific history. As an administrative agency admittedby Beijing government, its production、existence and operation have made greatinfluence to the Chinese democracy process.In this thesis，it mainly focuses on the whole process of from the production tooperation, which analyzes the production of Anfu Congress、 the exercise ofcongressional power、 the congressional operation under the perspective of individualcases and so on. On these bases, there is a relatively objective evaluation towards AnfuCongress.First of all, as for the election of Anfu Congress, among those previous studies,scholars only paid attention to the bribery、fraud and manipulation of warlords in theprocess of its election. These problems led to the corruption and degeneration of AnfuCongress. But in fact, through the comprehensive study of its election, Anfu Congressdidn’t totally transcend the structure of democracy in procedure. First, election shouldbe judged by the provisions of the laws——《Amendment Organizations Act of ChinaRepublic Congress》、《Amendment Election Act of Senator》、《Amendment ElectionAct of Representative》and so other laws have provided clear and concrete provisions,and Anfu Congress has obeyed these laws. Second, Voter surveys exist objectively.Voter surveys are not only the important procedure of election, but also are one of thebasic works of election. Although there are some people who give inflated figures、underreport even forge some information in voter surveys, each electoral districtgenerally reports the number of voters according to the Election Law. Third, there aresome problems during the process of election, but the procedure of election meets therequirements. There are some manufactured factors both in primary election and check,but the formulation of electoral rules、the supervision of electoral process、the operation of vote and tickets check have followed the established procedure. It hassome problems in the election of Anfu Congress, but the procedure is legal.Second, warlords control the operation of Anfu Congress which weak thecongressional power, and make it hard for congress to have a real role to play, butduring the existence of Anfu Congress, just like other congress it still has the rights andpower on the design of its system. Through the analysis of its exercise of power——presidential voting rights、 legislative power、financial power、diplomatic power、power of cabinet consent、 rights of questions and its efficiency, it meets thedemocratic requirements in procedure. However， under the particularly socialbackground，especially the indispensably economic and political relationship betweencongress and warlords make the exercise of power be intervened、obstructed evendestroyed by warlords. It neither has the ability to promote democracy, nor has thestrength to fight against powerful warlords. Its interior has serious tendency ofdistractions、secession、and deviation， which make itself become the instrument ofwarlords and be involved in factional struggles.Third, seen the operation of Anfu Congress under the perspective of individualcases, we can not only longitudinally trace the track of its operation, but also crosswiseanalyze these significantly historical nodes one by one during the track of its operation.There are several influential historical events during the period of Anfu Congress’existence, for example, the declaration of war on Germany、the peace talk betweenSouth and North in1919、the case of Japanese loan、《The bureaucracy case ofnorthwest frontier》and so on. We can’t deny the relationship between these events andAnfu Congress, but it doesn’t only play the puppets’ or implemental role. The result ofthe declaration of war on Germany is proclaimed by Anfu Congress when the outcomehas become apparent and ordinary people have acquiesced. During the peace talkbetween South and North in1919, Anfu Congress has damaged the talk, but relative tomain reasons that led to the break of this peace talk——factional separation andcompetition、no sincerity of both sides、irreconcilable beneficial differences，amongthese inevitable factors Anfu Congress is a just coincidental factor and its damage islimited. What’s more, it is not the only reason that leads to the break of the peace talkbetween South and North. As for the case of Japanese loan and《The bureaucracy case of northwest frontier》，although Anfu Congress has approved these cases which standfor the will of Wan clique and during the process of determination, councilmen havethe power to question、criticize、oppose、even resist and contend，the warlords are sopowerful and the breath of democracy is so weak that these struggles end up withfailure and compromise.Anfu Congress is a conditional outcome of China’s specific political background.Its production and operation reflect the conflict among different kinds of politicalpower, and to some extent, it makes great influence to the development of Chinesepolitics. One the one hand, it produced in the flow of democratic development, so itmust retain the democratic forms、give consideration to the voice of people、operate inaccordance with laws so that the outcomes of political power’s exercise often goagainst the will of warlords, which also make warlord difficult to control congress. Onthe other hand, it has special benefits and codependent relationship with warlords, so itmust meet the needs of warlords, and satisfy their control to congress. Because of itspredicament, Anfu Congress must wave between autocracy and democracy. Itsdemocracy is under the control of warlords, and the control of warlords is presented bythe democratic forms. The warlords can control congress but they can’t haveeverything they wish for, and councilors depend on warlords as well as resist them,which are the reasons why the nature of Anfu Congress is so complex. The control andanti-control between Anfu Congress and warlords and the powerless struggle betweenthem give us more space to think about the Chinese current situation. It also makes usrealize the political reasons that lead to the failure of parliamentary politics in China’sspecific history. At the same time, it deepens our understanding of why there are somany troubles in the early political modernization. These twists and turns in theprocess of historical progress play an inevitable role on the objective recognition andevaluation towards history.