"Representatives In Governance" : A Study On The Role Of Local People’s Congress Deputies In Contemporary China

Representative role is the core problem of representative theory,which mainly focuses on the action and function of representative.In the western representative theory,the debate on the role of representative has been centered on the classic proposition of "Mandate and Independence".However,both the representative acting as the agent following the will of the voters and the trustee acting independently have not got rid of the dual structure of principal-agent.That is to say,the role of representative in Western representative theory is mainly centered on the relationship between representation and the represented,without considering the influence of political actors such as political parties and related institutions.The People’s Congress Institution of the People’s Republic of China was established under the leadership of the Communist Party of China(CPC).It is a model of having political parties before people’s congresses,which is different from the model of having parliaments before political parties in Western countries.As a result,the role of the Local People’s Congress(LPC)deputies is not only influenced by internal system and legal provisions,namely the construction of the LPC institution itself and the expectations of the represented,but also constrained by external environment,namely the ruling party,the government and other relevant actors.In China,the role of LPC deputies should be considered not only within the logic of the institution itself,but also within the governance system of a modern country.People’s livelihood is the most important issue for the Chinese people,and it is also the area that the Local People’s Congresses deputies need to focus on.In China,as an important thought inherent in Chinese traditional culture,People-Oriented thought is the most basic principle and basis for the Chinese people to settle the relationship between the people and the state,regulate the state governance behavior and construct the political legitimacy.Important ideas such as "the people are the foundation of the country,the country will be safe when the foundation is firm","protecting the people","nourishing the people","enriching the people" and "loving the people" have made the livelihood issues closely related to the people always a core position in China’s historical development,and thus become an important aspect of China’s national governance.In contemporary China,people’s livelihood remains an important aspect of Chinese politics.As the ruling party,the Communist Party of China has long put forward the purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly and the fundamental requirement of "building the party for the public and exercising power for the people".In the new historical period,it has put forward the thought of people-centered development and set the people’s aspiration for a better life as its goal.The Voting Deciding System of Deputies for Projects Related to People’s Livelihood is a local practice that puts the people-centered idea into practice and is also an institutional innovation that combines people’s livelihood issues with the system of the people’s Congress.In this paper,the Voting Deciding System of Deputies for People’s Livelihood Projects in Z Province is taken as the starting point of analysis,and the Local People’s Congress deputies are taken as the object of analysis,and an analysis framework of institutional-actor-representative role is put forward.This paper finds that the role of Local People’s Congresses deputies is not only affected by the institution construction of People’s Congresses and the expectations of the represented,but also by the relationship between the party and the government,the relationship between the council and the executive and the hierarchical relationship of the government.The joint action of institution and actors has shaped the different role models of local people’s congresses deputies.To be specific,first of all,at the township level,Institution-actor influence on representative function play is a type of strong institution and weak actor.In terms of institution,through the Voting Deciding System of Deputies for People’s Livelihood Projects,the township People’s Congress deputies can fully participate in the formulation of practical projects concerning the people’s livelihood,thus giving full play to their representation,decision and supervision functions.In terms of actors,the people’s livelihood at the township level is mainly dominated by the People’s Congress,the government has little influence on the People’s Congress,and the ruling party in a leading position supports the People’s Congress,which enables the voting deciding system to maintain its original institutional advantages,so as to ensure the full play of the functions of deputies.Under the joint action of the system and the actors,the role of the the township People’s Congress deputies in the governance of people’s livelihood is a more adequate representative.They can directly reflect the demands of the people by virtue of its hierarchical advantages.Secondly,at the municipal and county level,Institution-actor influence on representative function play is a type of institution and actor are both strong.Under the dual role of institution and actors,the representation,decision and supervision functions of the municipal and county People’s Congresses deputies have been given full play to a certain extent,but due to the collection and preliminary determination of government-led projects and the continued implementation of unsuccessful projects,the representation and decision functions of the municipal and county People’s Congresses deputies have been restricted to varying degrees.Under the role of the government,the People’s Congresses deputies at the municipal or county level are mainly representatives within the boundaries and mainly play the role of supervision.Thirdly,at the provincial level,the degree to which institution-actor and representative functions play is a type of weak institution and strong actor.Although the provincial People’s Congress deputies have stronger institutional foundation and action ability at the local level,there is no corresponding institutional platform for them to directly participate in the formulation of livelihood projects of provincial government.As a result,the representation and supervisory functions of provincial People’s Congress deputies are very limited in the governance of people’s livelihood.In the formulation of provincial livelihood projects,the provincial government is the main formulation and implementation,and the provincial People’s Congress deputies are only the minimum legal representatives.They mainly deliberate and adopt the government work report submitted by the government during the LPC session,and projects related to people’s livelihood are only part of the government work report and are determined by the party committees and governments before they are submitted to deputies for deliberation.However,due to the strong institutional foundation,provincial People’s Congress deputies often give full play to their legislative power.They can provide legal support for the voting deciding system within the province through their high legislative authority.In general,through the review of history and the description and analysis of cases,we find that the Local People’s Congress deputies do not simply pursue formal election procedures or are limited to legal functions in legal texts,but pay more attention to the action and substantive dimension of deputies,which is a kind of substantive representative and representative in governance.The so-called representative in governance not only refers to the representative active or existing in the governance field,but also a representative that focuses on national governance and serves the national or local governance system.Its role is often very close to the ruling party,the government and the people.Among them,based on the relationship with the ruling party,the Local People’s Congress deputies are the realization mechanism of the Communist Party of China to build the party for the public,its function mainly lies in safeguarding the interests of the people;From the perspective of the relationship with the people,the Local People’s Congress deputies are the representation of the people of a large-scale country,whose existence can realize the political presence of the people.From the perspective of the relationship with the government,the Local People’s Congress deputies are democratic elements of governance,and their existence can optimize the governance of China.The possible contribution of this paper is mainly reflected in three aspects: first,it provides a new analytical framework for the analysis of representative role,namely,the Institutional-actor-representative role;Second,based on China’s history and experience,it theoretically provides a kind of Chinese discourse and related concepts about the Local People’s Congress deputies.Third,it provides a new thought for solving "The Mandate-Independence Controversy" in western representative theory.But it should be noted that,since the development of the Voting Deciding System of Deputies for People’s Livelihood Projects is uneven and in constant development and change throughout the country,the conclusion of this paper is only most applicable in Z Province or the place where the voting deciding system of deputies is implemented at the municipal,county and township levels.In places where the voting system of deputies has not been implemented or where the voting deciding system of deputies has only been piloted in towns or cities or counties,the analysis of the role of the Local People’s Congresses deputies in this paper may have certain limitations in applicability.