| Ethnic problems,which relate to ethnical survival,development and various related interests,are long-standing social phenomena in the course of the development of human society.The proper handling of ethnic problems is related to the political stability,economic prosperity,people’s well-being and frontier consolidation.The extreme importance of ethnic problems requires multi-ethnic countries to attach great importance to and take appropriate ways to solve such problems.Because of the differences in historical customs,ethnic composition,political system,ideology and other aspects,the policy shows its characteristics and different degrees of effectiveness.As a multi-ethnic country,China has a long history of regional governance on ethnic minorities.To a large extent,the central governments implemented effective policies in response to the situation of multi-ethnic countries.In terms of solving ethnic minority problems in China,the Communist Party of China attaches great importance to the very system of “ruling by custom” and its positive functions,and has formed a way to solve ethnic problems with Chinese characteristics-the System of Regional Ethnic Autonomy.This system has played a decisive role in the process of socialist construction in China.Through the rational implementation of national policies,the concept of ethnic autonomy is integrated into the structure of a unitary state,thus guaranteeing the country’s institutional inclusiveness and providing effective protection for the basic rights and interests of ethnic minorities.It safeguarded national unity,formed a harmonious situation in which all ethnic groups help each other and advance hand in hand,and effectively mediated ethnic issues within multi-ethnic countries.However,the violent incidents in Lhasa and Urumqi have made many people living in the mainland feel that China is facing a more serious “ethnic problem” for the first time.When ethnic problems are united with ethnic separatist activities such as “Xinjiang Independence”,“Tibetan Independence” or religious extremism,they become a great threat to the prosperity and stability of our country and hinder friendly exchanges among all ethnic groups.As the first provincial autonomous region,Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has developed vigorously in the course of past 72 years’ development in the fields of politics,economy,culture,society and ecology.It has laid a solid theoretical and practical foundation for the formulation and implementation of the System of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in China.Of course,we need to see that the design of the system can not be perfect,and the system will also need to be constantly improved.Therefore,we need to consider a series of related issues: as a basic political system to solve China’s ethnic problems and promote the development of ethnic areas,how effective is the System of Regional Ethnic Autonomy? What factors lead to a departure between the original design and the performance? What is the main sticking point of the problem?Based on the practice of the System of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Inner Mongolia,this paper focuses on the role of the system in promoting political,economic,cultural,social and ecological undertakings in Inner Mongolia,and accordingly declares the factors hindering the role of the system and measures the improvements.The full paper is divided into three parts: introduction,main text and conclusion.There are five chapters in the main text part.The first chapter,which uses the theory of historical institutionalism to analyze the System of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in China,focus on the basic viewpoints of historical institutionalism on the formation of a system,the development of ethnic governance in Chinese history,the connotation and principles of the system,and the influence of path dependence mechanism on the development of the system.The second chapter,which is divided into four stages,before 1947,from 1947 to 1956,from 1957 to 1977 and after 1978,mainly discusses the track of the implementation of the system in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.The third chapter is the keynote of this paper.It mainly analyses the achievements of the System of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Inner Mongolia in the field of political,economic,cultural,social and ecological construction.The author uses the first-hand data which is obtained during the social survey and other detailed statistical data to provide factual footnotes for the discussion of this chapter.The forth chapter makes a thorough analysis from five aspects to discuss the obstacles that affect the effectiveness of the system in Inner Mongolia: imperfect system construction,unclear power boundaries,low level of economic development,complicated situation of ethnic relations in the period of social transformation and the need of enhancing people’s quality.The fifth chapter puts forward 5 countermeasures and suggestions to ensure the healthy operation of the system in Inner Mongolia,which are perfecting the system design,straightening out power relations,vigorously developing economy,consolidating and developing harmonious ethnic relations and fostering civic culture.This problem-oriented paper pays attention to the combination of normative research and empirical research,uses the theory of historical institutionalism to elaborate the practical problems of the System of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Inner Mongolia,and responds positively to the concerns of the times by putting forward constructive suggestions for the future development of the system. |
