The Research On Group Events Of Recent Five Years In China

The comprehensive advancement of China’s reform has brought about extensive and profound changes of the social structure and resulted in diversification of interest groups. Meanwhile, the pattern of interests has been seriously distorted:distribution of benefits in the immature and imperfect socialist market economy has become competition and game between different interest groups; the mal-function of the mechanism of interest balancing has given rise to a widening gap between different regions, walks of life, urban and rural areas as well as between the rich and the poor. All these universal problems have led to the increase of various social problems and disintegration of social structure. As a natural consequence, Group Events frequently occur in different fields and regions as a way of expressing interest demands or releasing discontent. On the one hand, Group Events have exerted a strong impact on the sustainable development of the national economy and social stability, thus becoming a conspicuous social hotspot and focus; on the other hand, they are suggestive of the masses’ decreased trust of the local governments and the tension between the leaders and the masses, the police and the people, which result in the declined credibility and capacity of the grassroots political power, damage the governments’ authority and the CPC’s image, aggravate the collapse of social order and hinder the social progress.The whole society’s close attention to Group Events has aroused a climax of relevant studies. Various interpretations have been offered by researchers from different perspectives. In general, both the governments and the academic circle make a negative evaluation of Group Events, for they, with a focus on the bad effects upon the social stability, tend to ascribe these events to the lawless destruction or the masses’"ignorance of the truth". Accordingly, they propose some countermeasures with a view to the resolution targeted at prevention and based on a short term, but seldom explore the events from the perspectives of protecting the citizens’ Constitutional rights, which, in a sense, neglects or avoids the fact that the public powers often encroach on the citizens’human rights and freedom. In the context of the burgeoning awareness of civil rights and constant advancement of governance according to law, Group Events are bound to be normal, routine and increasing, so it is necessary to establish a sound, long-term precaution and management mechanism based on the Constitutionalism.Human practice shows that all social changes are in essence the adjustment of the interest relation of the whole society so as to promote the social production and better meet the people’s demands for interests. Social conflicts cannot be completely eliminated in any society where exist contradictions and conflicts between different interest groups. Interest conflicts are the root of all conflicts in human society. Benefit games are the most direct and fundamental cause of Group Events.The Group Events which have occurred in China recently are still the contradictions among and within the people; to be more exact, they are special forms of the contradictions among and within the people, characterized by non-confrontation, non-politics, temporality and locality. It can be predicted that, with the citizens’ increasing awareness of their rights and strengthening capability of right-safeguarding, there will be inevitably more substantial growth in political and confrontational Group Events with an aim at achieving political rights, for anything is likely to be transformed from quantitative change to qualitative change. In this light, it is better to face straight the reality, recognize the diversity and legitimacy of interest subjects rather than respond to Group Events passively. Besides, it is necessary to realize the significant role played by Group Events in promoting administration according to the law, bettering the people’s livelihood, protecting human rights and strengthening the construction of socialist politics. To attain this goal, strong measures should be adopted to enhance benign development of socialist market economy and political ecology, build a platform of benefit game with rule by law as the core, promote the Constitutionalized construction of interest balance and expression so as to reduce the cost of maintaining the social stability and achieve social justice and harmony.With reference to abundant relevant documents and materials, the present author probes into several typical Group Events which have occurred in China recently by taking historical materialism and dialectic materialism as guiding principles and adhering to a down-to-earth research style. Group Events are classified into five categories:those arising from direct interest conflicts, from releasing discontent, from environmental problems, from opposing bureaucratism and corruption, and from participating in social management. Then the dissertation analyzes the causes of Group Events from five aspects:firstly, adjustment of the patterns of interest in the transitional period of the Chinese society is the macro-background of these events; secondly, aggravation of interest conflicts is the direct motive of the events; thirdly, the misconception that "the law does not punish the masses" is the psychological cause of the events; fourthly, abuse of power is the catalyst of the events; finally, the citizens’ awareness of their rights is the legal basis of the events.However, all the above causes do not touch upon the true nature of Group Events. The paper further holds that frequent Group Events reflects the Chinese citizens’ struggle for safeguarding their basic rights including entity interest stipulated by the Constitution, because, from the perspective of the Constitutionalism, China’s Constitution has a weak basis in protective stipulations of the citizens’ Constitutional rights, and governance according to law is not achieved in real sense so that strong rule of man results in frequent encroachment of citizens’ personal rights, property rights and other basic rights. Therefore, analyses of the causes of Group Events from this viewpoint are as follows:First, the imbalance between the citizens’civil rights and government powers and excessive expansion of the latter. The primary task of the Constitutionalism is to allocate powers rationally by the Constitution and define the governmental powers between the state organs and at different levels. To guarantee the institutionalized, standardized and rational operation of governmental powers, the Constitution must define them and keep the citizens’ civil rights free from encroachment. However, the Chinese laws especially the Constitution are not operable and implementable in stipulating the citizens’ rights and as a result, they are always in a weak position in the imbalanced state of the citizens’ civil rights and the government powers.Secondly, the imbalance of rights among the citizens. The current gap between the rich and the poor has actually caused two social groups:advantaged groups and disadvantaged groups with different social statuses and influences. The advantaged group, more often than not, are able to display greater social energy, have more accesses to "unblocked" channels of expressing their interests, thus capable of winning more interests for themselves. Furthermore, once they form a more powerful interest group, the members of the advantaged groups not only dominate China’s economic trend, but also exert tremendous influence upon its politics. On the other hand, the disadvantaged groups are in powerless in expressing their interests. It is necessary to be on the alert for the imbalance of rights among the citizens and their social statuses as one of the most important problems in the process of China’s social transformation.Thirdly, the actual dummy of citizens’ constitutional rights. The constitutional stipulation of the citizens’ basic rights plays a positive role in guaranteeing their access to these rights and safeguarding the social stability and harmony. But some of their basic rights are not stipulated in the Constitution such as the right of life, free migration and freedom of strike, and some basic rights, even if stipulated in the Constitution, are not clear. For example, the citizens’rights of freedom of speech, though stipulated in the Constitution, are too general and simple, and since there is no protective stipulation of it, the citizens do not have clear channel of expressing their will. For another, the citizens’ rights of freedom of association, meeting, parade and demonstration stipulated in the Constitution is strictly restricted by specific laws, thus not effectively protected by the Constitution.Fourthly, the lack of the cultural tradition of implementing the constitutionalism and a root in individual heroism. Ever since antiquity, the Chinese cultural tradition has had more rule of man than rule by law, advocated more moral appeal than rule constraints, attached greater importance to emotion than to ration, paid more attention to following the examples set by our predecessors than respecting the truth and law, and preached the perfect human nature with neglect of the evil side. The latter of all the above pairs is the basis of constitutional culture. It can thus follow that the collision and conflict between constitutional culture and the traditional Chinese culture is inevitable and there is a long way for China’s constitutionalism. On the other hand, the constitutional culture also has an obvious influence on the Chinese society. It is the common people’s shared aspiration to establish China’s modern political civilization, safeguard the citizens’ civil rights and pay supreme respect for the Constitution and adhere to the rule by law.In the current period when some systems and mechanisms restricting China’s scientific development in all fields, reform is encountering a strong resistance from the vested interest groups and entering uncharted waters and storming districts, so it is necessary to solve various problems by deepening reform. In continuing to promote the reform of economic system, there must be a breakthrough in the reform of political system. In light of this, two clear paths and four perfect mechanisms must be adopted to explore the solution of Group Events.The first path is to promote the governments’ administration by the Constitution. Since the Constitution is the fundamental law of our country, the governments’ administration by the Constitution is an important principle of constitutionalism and the core of the constitutionalism is the generation and operation of the state powers or government powers in strict accordance with the Constitution. Constitutional supremacy is the manifestation of the people’s sovereignty, the soul of rule by law, the symbol of modern and contemporary political civilization, and the fundamental principle of the governments’ administration. The key to administration by law is official governance by law. Power must be operated within the framework of the Constitution and the law, free from any privileges above the law.The second path is to promote the citizens’ orderly participation in political affairs. The citizens’ orderly and institutional participation in political affairs is an important symbol of modern political civilization and the intrinsic requirements of democratic politics. In order to enable the citizens to participate in political affairs in all fields and at all levels, four things must be done:1) to develop and enhance their awareness of orderly and rational participation;2) to further the ordering and institutional construction of their participation in political affairs;3) to cultivate and strengthen civic organizations and provide more channels for their participation;4) to guarantee clear channels of communication between the citizens and governments and protect the former’s right to know.The first one is a mechanism of interest expression and balancing. Interest conflicts should be placed in a consultative adjusting platform which is legal and effective. A top-level design should be conducted and improved guarantee a clear channel for the citizens’ interest expression in public policies. Social autonomous entities should be encouraged to lay a solid foundation for benefit game and institutionalized solution. A mechanism of balancing, guaranteeing and compensating interests should be improved to protect the legal interests of all walks of life from being damaged and to entitle every citizen to an equal share of the fruits of reform and opening to the outside as well the economic growth.The second one is a security mechanism for the effective achievement of the citizens’ constitutional rights to eliminate the actual dummy of the citizens’ rights. It is necessary to write the right of petition in the Constitution, to moderate the constraints on the citizens’ right of meeting, parade and demonstration according to the Constitution and relevant laws, and to strengthen the construction of civic culture and promote political civilization.The third one is a mechanism of restricting government powers by institutionalization and the citizens’ rights. Governments at all levels are the organs vested with the power of administrating social and public affairs, and, as the owner of public powers, they enjoy the power and social influence which are beyond any other social organizations and individuals. Some governmental leaders’ greed, if any, for the concentration, contention and expansion of powers is likely to form an unhealthy political ecology in which the administrative powers are centralized by certain departments and the departmental powers try to seek their own interests which in turn are legalized. Group Events prove that administrating the society based upon violence is unsustainable and that a mechanism of restricting government powers should be enhanced so as to build a responsible law-based government and to transform the governmental function from administration to service.The fourth one is a legal mechanism of handling Group Events effectively and properly. In order to prevent and handle Group Events by legal means, it is necessary, on the one hand, to give laws a full play in safeguarding the citizens’ legal rights and mediating social contradictions and conflicts and thus to block the trigger of Group Events, and one the other, to improve a sound legal system of defining and protecting the citizens’constitutional rights and helping them exercise these rights legally and successfully.Attainment the constitutionalism does not solely depend on a mature Constitution together with a series of corresponding laws and regulations, for human factors are still very decisive, but also relies on reform especially political reform, through which an institutional guarantee will provide the successful implementation of the Constitution. The vitality of the Constitution lies in its implementation, so maintaining the authority and dignity of the Constitution and guaranteeing its successful implementation is the one and only one way of solving Group Events effectively and properly.