A Study Of The People’s Congress System Of Decision-making Power On Significant Matters

The People’s Congress System is China’s fundamental political system, the fundamentalguarantee and the highest form of realizing the wishes that the people are the masters of thecountry, and the important content of developing socialist democratic politics. The18thNational Congress of the Communist Party of China report points out: Supporting andguaranteeing people’s execution of national power through the people’s congress, well makingParty’s views turn into national wills through legal procedures, and supporting the people’scongress and its standing committee to fully play a role as the organ of state power, andlegally execute such powers as legislation, supervision, decision, and appointment anddismissal.“Decisions on Several Significant Issues of Deepening the Reform in an All-roundWay” at the Third Plenary Session of the18thCentral Committee of the CPC further pointsout: Pushing forward the people’s congress system for advancing with the times, promotingtheoretical and practical innovations of the people’s congress system, playing the people’scongress role as the fundamental political system, and improving the people’s congress systemof making discussions and decisions on significant matters. All of these point out neworientations, and advance new requirements for further strengthening the theoretical study ofthe people’s congress system, and promoting the people’s congress system to play its ownimportant role.In accordance with stipulations in the Constitution and laws, we usually summarize thepeople’s congress power into four items: Legislative power, decision-making power onsignificant matters, supervision power, and power of appointment and dismissal. Thelegislative power is a legal power enjoyed by the People’s Congress and its standingcommittee at municipality level and above; the decision-making power on significant matters,the supervision power, and the power of appointment and dismissal are legal powers enjoyedpeople’s congresses at all levels, and the standing committee of the people’s congress atcounty level and above. In practices of many years, the legislative power and the supervisionpower are main powers executed by the people’s congress, which have good execution andspecial laws for guarantee. In present conditions, the power of appointment and dismissal hasmore significance in respect of legal procedures. Only the decision-making power on significant matters has poor and inadequate execution universally at people’s congresses at alllevels, the standing committee of the people’s congress at county level and above. TheNational People’s Congress and its standing committee merely executes the decision-makingpower on significant matters enumerated and stipulated in the Constitution, and seldom makesdiscussions and decisions on other significant matters. At local people’s congresses, theexecution of the decision-making power on significant matters is more absent. TheConstitution and the Local Organization Law endow local people’s congresses and theirstanding committees at county level and above with extensive decision-making powers ineconomy, politics, culture, education, science, sports, etc.; yet in practice, local people’scongresses and their standing committees execute decision-making powers merely in respectof matters clearly enumerated in law and legal procedural matters, and seldom makesdiscussions and decisions on significant matters of entity in economic and social developmentand other fields, for example, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of ShanxiProvince has made merely a total of37relevant resolutions/decisions over the past30years,1fewer than two yearly on an average basis, and the Standing Committee of the People’sCongress of Hebei Province has made two decisions on issues of entity yearly on an averagebasis over the past30years.The decision-making power on significant matters is a basic and important power ofmaking discussions and decisions on national or local significant matters that the Constitutionand the Local Organization Law endow the people’s congress and its standing committee, anda power that directly represents the nature and role of the organ of state power, which has anextensive applicability, and particularly for local people’s congresses without the legislativepower, the decision-making power on significant matters is the most direct and effectivemeans for them to make decisions on some local significant matters on behalf of people’swills. However, the importance of the people’s congress decision-making power on significantmatters has a big contrast with its actual execution. The decision-making power on significantmatters has poor and inadequate execution, which (1) means that part of the decision-makingpower on significant matters originally belonging to the organ of state power has been eroded(2) results in the fact that some significant matters that should be resolved in the name ofpeople and country have not been through discussions and decisions at the people’s congress, which has lowered the authority of the people’s congress as the organ of state power, andowing to weaknesses existing in execution of the decision-making power on significantmatters, also constrained overall performance of the organ of state power (3) reflects thatParty ruling and leadership modes and the state decision-making system have not reallystepped onto rule-of-law track yet. In a certain sense, the system of decision-making power onsignificant matters is one that has the biggest dispute, most problems, and most difficulties inimplementation in the people’s congress system. Just on the basis of above problems existingin this system, and Party’s new requirements for the people’s congress system advancing withthe times, this paper expounds the People’s Congress System of Decision-making Power onSignificant Matters. The basic framework of this paper is: Expounding basic theories of thissystem; examining implementation of this system; revealing its main problems existing;analyzing enlightenments of relevant overseas systems; putting forward proposals on reformand improvement. The whole paper falls into three parts of Introduction, Text, andConclusions. Introduction mainly specifies significance of the paper topic-establishment,present situations of domestic and overseas studies, study thoughts, study methods, paperframework, paper innovations and defects. Conclusions summarize the nature andsignificance of the People’s Congress System of Decision-making Power on SignificantMatters, as well as main thoughts and measures of reform and improvement. Text falls intofive chapters.Chapter1is the general theory of the People’s Congress System of Decision-makingPower on Significant Matters. This Chapter aims at specifying basic theories concerning theSystem of Decision-making Power on Significant Matters, and giving an overall andsystematic knowledge of the People’s Congress System of Decision-making Power onSignificant Matters, including connotation, characteristics, main theoretical sources, legalrelations, categories, as well as relationships between the Decision-making Power onSignificant Matters and other powers of the People’s Congress.Chapter2is the contemporary value and function of the People’s Congress System ofDecision-making Power on Significant Matters. This Chapter discuss five aspect of thecontemporary value and function of the People’s Congress System of Decision-making Poweron Significant Matters:the System of Decision-making Power on Significant Matters is the important method to strengthen and improve the leadership of the Party, is the important wayto realize modernization of governance of the Party, is the new breakthrough point toaccelebrate the self-development of the People’s Congress, is the effective way to solve theobvious contradictions and problems in the society, is the important mechanism to play thelocal autonomous right. The above contents will deepen further the people’s understanding tothe important role of the System of the Decision-making Power on Significant Matters as aimportant constitution system in developing socialist democratic politics and governing thestate by law.Chapter3is the history of law on the System of the decision-making on significantmatters power. The Chapter, according to the history development process, first makes a briefreview of the formation and evolution of the System of Decision-making Power onSignificant Matters in different forms of regimes established under Party’s leadership in therevolutionary era, which includes general situations of the formation of the Russian Sovietsystem as the prototype for the People’s Congress System of Decision-making Power onSignificant Matters, the Soviet decision-making power on significant matters, and the Systemof Decision-making Power on Significant Matters under the Soviet regime, the parliamentarydemocracy system, the Senate system, the central people’s government commission and thePeople’s Congress System established under Party’s leadership. Then through reviewingexpression and evolution of the new China’s constitution and other law on theDecision-making Power on Significant Matters of the People’s Congress, it presents overallthe historic character of the System of the Decision-making Power on Significant Matters, andto deepen the overall understanding of it,and to offer the premise of epistemology and lay thepractice foundation for preferably improving,perfecting,using the system.Chapter4is the implementation situation, existing problem and analysis of causes of theSystem of the decision-making power on significant matters.Firstly,it reviews implementationsituation of the National People’s Congress System of Decision-making Power on SignificantMatters from five phases of initial implementation, implementation changes, annulment,restoration, and constant improvement. After this, it takes the Standing Committee of thePeople’s Congress of H Province as an example to review implementation of the localpeople’s congress system of decision-making power on significant matters, analyzes its characteristics of execution decision-making power on significant matters, and briefly statesimplementation of municipality/county/township people’s congress system ofdecision-making power on significant matters, with the emphasis on an analysis of basicdetails of execution of budget approval power of local people’s congresses. On the basis ofabove empirical reviews, it analyzes main problems existing in implementation of thePeople’s Congress System of Decision-making Power on Significant Matters and their causes,including continuation of traditional systems and absence of rule-of-law concept, noavailability of special law guarantee and clear criteria of judgment and workable start-upprocedures, as well as defects existing in the People’s Congress self-building, etc.. Particularlyit makes an empirical analysis of problems existing in H Province’s local laws and regulationsconcerning discussions and decisions on significant matters.Chapter5is reform and improvement of the People’s Congress System ofDecision-making Power on Significant Matters. Firstly, it takes the representative EnglandAmerica and Germeny as subjects of study, and to state the implement procedure and usefulenlightenment of the British Parliament,the U.S.Congress,the German Parliament on theSystem of the Decision-making Power on Significant Matters. Then the chapter expoundstheoretical conceptions and specific measures of reform and improvement of the People’sCongress System of Decision-making Power on Significant Matters in four aspects oflegislation, operational mechanisms of state decision-making power, implementingprocedures and the people’s congress self-building. It makes clear statements at two layers inrespect of legislation. One is to strengthen the legislation by the National People’s Congressand its standing committee concerning power of finance and taxation because control andsupervision of governmental finance power is one of most significant decision-makingmatters of the people’s congress, and also control and supervision of part of othergovernmental significant practices may be realized to some extent through control of financepower; therefore, there is a need to strengthen execution of finance power of the people’scongress through reform and improvement of finance legislation. In addition, China’s presentlegislation of finance and taxation has the problem of excessive authorization and confusionin legal systems of finance and taxation, and thus there is a need for the National People’sCongress and its standing committee to recover the state legislation power of finance and taxation, regulate finance legislation, establish a unified system of finance legislation, andprovide scientific legal basis for finance approval power of the people’s congress onsignificant matters. The other is to revise and improve the legislation of local people’scongresses on decision-making power on significant matters, and advance basic requirementsand principles that should be followed in legislation, and on this basis, put forward a revisedproposal draft of “Regulations of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of HProvince on Making Discussions and Decisions on Significant Matters”. In respect ofimplementing procedures, it advances seven proposals of reform of procedures: Improving thestart-up procedure; introducing the argument system; partially implementing “Three ReviewSystem”; improving the hearing system; bettering the special investigation system; improvingthe system of supervision/examination and accountability; reforming and improving thesystem of budget decision. In respect of the operation mechanism of state decision-makingpower, it advances the main points of returning the ruling party power to the right rule-of-lawtrack, reforming Party leadership modes, turning the focus of Party leadership fromgovernments to the people’s congress, and finally forming the power operation mechanism of“Party initiates motions, the people’s congress makes decisions, and governments implementthem”. Finally, it advances contents of strengthening the self-building of the people’s congressand its standing committee, such as: Optimizing the composition of the standing committee ofthe people’s congress; improving the meeting duration system of the standing committee ofthe people’s congress; bettering the service system of the standing committee of the people’scongress; setting up and improving the system of connection between people’s representatives,members of standing committees, and ordinary people; etc..