On The Right Of The Ethnic Minorities To Administer Their Internal Affairs

It is the consistent assertion of the Communist Party of China that “the state fully respects and guarantees the right of the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs”,which is the provision in Law of People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy.The establishment of this right has experienced three historical stages,including the initial selection,adjustment and lingering,final setting and legalization,which is the product of adapting Marxist Ethnic Theory to Chinese conditions.As a fundamental platform,the right of the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs is a principled right with a high degree of abstraction,generality and guidance.Under the framework of regional ethnic autonomy,it is not the right which can be directly exercised by a particular subject in a strictly normative sense,and generally needs to be indirectly achieved through the exercise of the power of regional ethnic autonomy.In the practice of ethnic work,it should be understood from the standpoint of the legislator and the perspective of embryology.At the same time,the right is also should be interpreted and expanded by focusing on the overall meaning of the legal structure and political rationality rather than be normatively analyzed for the direct application by stubbornly standing in the position of law-executors and justices.The right of the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs is an autonomous right enjoyed by the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs without outside interference in the multi-ethnic country,whose basis lies in equality and freedom.The ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs is not only a legal principle,but also a legal right.It has dual attributes of positive rights and negative rights,and it is an organic combination of collective rights and individual rights.The right stipulated in the preface of the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy intensively embodies its characteristics and functions.Furthermore,the right reflects the purpose and the spirit of the state carrying out the system of regional ethnic autonomy.Therefore,the validity of the right could not be analyzed based on the criteria for the ordinary articles of law,and instead should only be read as a lofty ideal of value which requires a constant pursuit and approaching,and the process of pursuit itself is also a process of gradual realization of its validity.Of course,any legal rights can not be exercised without limits,including the right of the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs.It must be restricted by the national sovereignty,regional factors,civil rights and social,economic and cultural structure.The subject of the right to administer ethnic internal affairs is the ethnic minorities,and under the framework of regional ethnic autonomy,it is the ethnic minorities exercising the regional autonomy in the area.The object of the right is ethnic internal affairs,referring to a series of affairs that can play an important role in maintaining the formation,development and continuation of an ethnic group.These affairs have been produced and inherited from the ethnic society,and can dramatically embody the historical and cultural connection between members of the ethnic group,and should be administered by the ethnic group and its members.Ethnic internal affairs are the historical category which means that with the development of times,the connotation of theirs has been unceasingly changing,and the structure has been being constantly adjusted,and the form has been being continuously updated.Their content,characteristics and the trend of development and evolution vary in different historical period.In the process of modernization,with the development of market economy and the interaction and integration between different ethnic groups,there have been a process of the "overflowed" and "internalized" interflow between ethnic internal affairs and national or local public affairs,which causes that the boundary between them has been gradually becoming fuzzy,and that the two kinds of affairs even start to show a certain degree of convergence.The right of the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs not only comes from Marxist Ethnic Theory and socialist democracy theory of the people being the masters of the state,but also comes from the pluralistic integration of ethnic governance tradition,which has a profound historical foundation and origin.It is also a rational choice based on the realistic national conditions with the pattern of diversity in unity of the Chinese Nation and difference of ethnic development.and it is the objective requirement of good governance of ethnic affairs and an important measure to consolidate ethnic unity and to win the support of people,which has crucial realistic significance.Under the political and legal framework in China,the right of the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs could be progressively realized mainly by structuring the organs of self-government to exert the power of regional ethnic autonomy,training and using cadres and professional talents from the ethnic minorities,and exerting the system of community-level self-governance and self-management of civil society groups or other methods of social autonomy.It is the most important way to achieve the goal of the right to structure the organs of self-government to exert the power of regional ethnic autonomy,and self-management at community-level and civil society groups plays a complementary role.Of course,the self-management of civil society groups is the main way for ethnic minorities who live scatteredly to administer their internal affairs.The three strategies previously mentioned all ensure the protection of the right,thus have achieved a series of significant effects.However,there are several further factors restraining the effectiveness,for instance: imperfections within the legal system,possessing a weak consciousness and understanding of the rights,the insufficient utilization of the power of regional ethnic autonomy,the inadequacy of the team construction of cadres from the ethnic minorities,and inexperience with self-management at community-level.In fact,the realization of this right is restricted by the genuine socioeconomic and cultural environment.Hence,it is necessary to perfect and alter the legal system regarding the realization of this right,furthermore enhance the consciousness and ability to execute the right,and ensure optimum efficiency of the authority exercised of regional ethnic autonomy,and strengthen the training of cadres originating from ethnic minorities,and refine mechanisms and establish a core social foundation of self-management at community-level,moreover,improve the socioeconomic and cultural environment to improve the accomplished quality of the right of the ethnic minorities to administer their internal affairs.