Study On Decentralization Under The Framework Of Constitutionalism

Decentralization is an important subject of constitutionalism, reflect thedevelopment of democratic politics of a country, reflect the power relationship of thewhole and the part, affect the national stability and development of society. Therefore,problems of decentralization is a significant political issue which must be takenseriously, considerated carefully during the development of any country. In the modernera, decentralization has been the trend of world, the value and function ofdecentralization have been widely accepted and understood. Reasonabledecentralization is an important characteristic of modern government, is an importantcontent for optimizing the government structure and improving governmentgovernance. Countries in the world are constantly exploring, adjusting the central andlocal power allocation pattern for local needs in order to seek the balance betweencentralization and decentralization. The reform of our country is beginning fromdecentralization,"decentralization" has become the main theme of reform.Thedistribution of power between central and local governments is becoming morescientific gradually. The practice of the reform and opening up for thirty years hasproved that decentralization has indeed brought vitality as never before to economicand social development. However, problems also come in the process of thedecentralization. For a long time, local protectionism,the local government ‘s toomuch demand for economic development, local officials’ corruption etc. made thatpotential for the economic development had been destroyed, the social conflict hadintensified, and people’s trust in the government had been decreased. The main reasonsare not standard and unreasonable decentralization. Along with the changes of statepower structure in the process of reform and opening up, our country has not set up a system framework for decentralization. Consequently, how to handle the relationshipbetween centralization and decentralization is still a major problem for the furtherreform. How to continue to promote decentralization? can the system of localautonomy in western countries become the goal of the local system reform in China?Where is the road to China’s decentralization reform? The article mainly focuses onthe development space in China of western system of local autonomy as well as thedirection of China’s decentralization reform. The author uses the constitutionaltheories of decentralization and local autonomy to analyze difficulties ofdecentralization development in China and put forward constructive proposal for thefuture development direction of the decentralization reform. On the bases of learningfrom foreign decentralization experiences and Chinese lessons in the practice of localautonomy in history, in the existing constitutional framework, we need to strengthenthe construction of rationalization,democratization and legalization of decentralization,and solve the main problems of decentralization, including the duties of government,the central-local relationship and the rational operation of local power, aiming at theconstruction of local decentralization system with Chinese characteristics.Firstly, the first part of the thesis focuses on the basic theories aboutdecentralization and local autonomy. In the first place, to clarify the meaning andrelationship of decentralization and local autonomy. Starting from the understanding ofdecentralization, the author explains the development logic of decentralization fromtheory, and make clear that the decentralization reform is the world trend. Localautonomy is the form of decentralization, local autonomy in western countries ingeneral sense is a concept with specific legal meaning, while decentralization is aneutral concept which is more inclusive.The core factor of decentralization isautonomy and democracy, emphasizing local governments’ duties in the governance oflocal public affairs, local autonomy and democratic participation in order to localdemocratic governance. Thus, the author avoids using the concept of localself-government about the construction of decentralization in China in the back partsof the thesis. In the second place, democratic centralism is a form of decentralization.The author interprets the meaning and distinguishes between democratic centralism and local autonomy in realization of decentralization. Lastly, we need to understandprofoundly the background of decentralization reform, make the theories ofdecentralization clearly, including pre-conditions of decentralization, that is to dealwith the relationship between government and market, society; the basic conditions oflocal self-government, that is to say,market economy and democratic politics; factorsconstraining the development of decentralization which means decentralization mustbe fit for political background,decentralization is under the constraint of theconstitutional order.Secondly, the thesis carried out the dynamic investigation about decentralizationfrom different space-time backgrounds. On one hand, starting from the comparativeperspective, in recent decades, decentralization and local autonomy in France, Britain,Russia and Japan have experienced the profound changes and development.The authorcompared different decentralization reform mode and governance effect, and exploredgeneral rules for local autonomy development, including local autonomy’senvironment and restricting factors, the path choice and trend of decentralizationdeveloping in these countries for reference. At the same time, pay attention to theanalysis and identification of era, national conditions, background and contextawareness about western local autonomous system. On the other hand, starting fromthe historical perspective, the paper sumed up and reflected on local self-governmentattempts in the history of our country and decentralization practice after the foundingof new China. In addition to the achievements, the author gave the reasons for thefailure of China’s local autonomy, as well as the analyses of defects and shortcomingsabout thinking mode and method of the decentralization reform in order to find theright path to our decentralization reform.Thirdly, the part is about attention and analysis of practical problems. Based oncurrent situation of decentralization in China, the author pointed out the difficulties oflocal governance, focused on the reasons for the problems,which meaned the absenceof rationalization, democratization and legalization of decentralization, and an answerto the difficulties from the decentralization perspective.Finally, the part focuses on a solution to the problem,which is the core of thearticle. On one side, the author demonstrates the development prospects of the local autonomy in China. As for the feasibility of local self-government, the researches arecarried out from the two perspectives of logic and history, in six aspects including theconstitutional system’s constraints, path dependency’s constraints, constraints of thebasic elements of system of local autonomy, constraints of historical and culturaltradition, the analysis of context about current decentralization system, the analysis ofeffects of historic and current autonomous system of China. In conclusion, at thepresent stage, local self-government is not feasible in China. Subsequently, the authorforecasts the future development of local autonomy in China. Local autonomy hascommon value in intention, that is to say, idea and value of local autonomy isuniversal, which we can understand and accept, and becomes direction of thedecentralization reform. But, as a system, development of local autonomy is subjectedto a country’s historical background and developed degree of constitutional theories,also is under constitutional system, the effects will be restricted and influenced by thepolitical system, autonomous tradition and concept, civil society and other factors. Asa result, the development of local self-government system in China needs to beconsidered carefully. Facing up to the stage of development in China, at the currentperiod of transition, we should learn from value and idea of the local autonomy,method and perspective from western researches on local autonomy, starting fromthe situation of our country, and gradually improve the decentralization system inChina with progressive measures of reform, considering the joining of ideal and thereality, considering the capacity of system, the acceptability of concept, support oftraditional culture as well as the impact on the existing order, considering the worldtrend of local autonomy development.On the other side, the author points out path of China’s decentralization reform,following the order of the idea, prerequisite, principles and system arrangement.Theconcept is fundamental to the decentralization reform.Decentralization need the ideasfor support at the concept level, from ruling to governance and from management toservice. Then, it is needed to solve prerequisite questions of decentralization, todistinct between the state and social power. Through social decentralization, a maturecivil society can be cultivated, which is the foundation of decentralization, also is theinevitable requirement of cooperative governance between government and society. Bystraighten out between party and government, the deep obstacles of decentralizationreform can be resolved. Then, decentralization reform need to make basic principlesclear to ensure the direction. The basic principles are the cornerstone ofdecentralization, which run through the decentralization reform. At last, the author putsforward the measures for decentralization construction of rationalization,democratization and legalization. Based on the historical process and realities of Chinese decentralization, for reference of the experiences of the western developedcountries’ decentralization, from the internal and external two directions,around thecore issues of decentralization, that is, the duties of government, the central-localrelationship and the rational operation of local power, dealing with the relationshipamong local people-local-central government, it is committed to building the localgovernment of democratic responsibility and the central and local cooperativerelationship for realization of local governance,aiming at the construction of localdecentralization system with Chinese characteristics.