On Citizen's Involvement In Political Crisis Management

In the historical period of transformation from centrally planned economy to socialistic market-oriented economy, organizational reshuffle sparked the overhaul readjustment of social system. With the change of interest distribution and reform on control mode, the accelerated specialization and mobilization further complicate the complexity of society, and thus come the unavoidable social conflicts and frictions. This is the case especially when China is now facing frequent occurrences of public emergencies which form not only a menace to public security, social order and economical profits, but a huge and pressing task for the government offices at different levels. To handle the situation effectively, government can not do without the involvement of ordinary citizens, and then how to get citizens involved in crisis management is our top priority.The thesis consists of 4 parts. The first part analyzes the meaning of crisis and points out the significance of crisis management.We usually define crisis as an urgent situation or state, which seriously affects the normal operation of organization, poses threat or inflicts damages to lives, property, and even the mere existence of the organization or the members of it, and which is beyond the normal management ability of the organization and demands immediate and particular attention. Crisis is a double-edged sword, because proper and improper handling of it will produce distinctly different results. Therefore, crisis is both an opportunity and a challenge. This part begins with the explanation the meaning of crisis management and meaning of crisis management of government, and then it summarizes the 6 development traits of crisis management of China; they are: crisis management notion changing from direct alleviation to all-around crisis management; handling approaches changing from administrative means to legal execution; function changing from decentralized to centralized; core responsibility changing from preparation for national war to emergency public affairs; focus changing from in-crisis tackling and post-crisis rebuilding to prevention of crisis; management of crisis changing from one-way administration of government to highly mobilized participation of all social parties. It is pointed out that, without support, government will find it difficult to be effective, responsive, coordinative and flexible in handling crises.The second part analyzes the change and development of the subject of crisis management from the perspective of reform. Before the adoption of reform and opening-up policy, highly centralized political and economical system predetermines central government as the sole manager of crises. With the transformation from centrally planned economy to market-oriented economy, after the adoption of reform policy, the administration has also undergone a transformation accordingly. As the systems have changed, crises are becoming more and more complicated, and this requires that the subject of crisis management include government, social organizations and individuals. The first half of this part analyzes the connotation, condition and significance of wide participation.The third part point out that wide participation is a practical requirement for crisis management. The part points out the obstacles in the way of wide participation of ordinary citizens. There are still ideological influence of official standard, die-hard bureaucracy both in administration and daily life. Participation into the government administration is virtually in disorder, and the patterns, timing, approaches and motives are not justifiable. There is no wholesome legal supervision and protection for the participation. Irrationality of participation still looms large. Lack of communication and interaction between government and citizenship still stands out. Passive elements in traditional culture still affect the reasoning of citizenship. Negative influence from traditional administration dulls the sensitivity of government officials to crises.The forth part presents an optimized approach to effective participation into crisis management. In the first place, it is advisable for the government to stick to the principle of"people-centeredness", particularly abandoning official standard and holding fast to notion of"ruling for better"which is the demand for new model of administration. In the second place, the principle of"social participation"requires that citizenship should play a role in crisis management, so that a mechanism based on mutual understanding and interdependence. Thirdly, a wholesome legal system can provide protection for citizenship participating in crisis management. Fourthly, if citizenship becomes more and more rational when taking part in management, people will not resort to personal preference but to legal articles. Information sharing is a basis for smooth communication between government and citizenship. Establishment of a sound training system will guarantee a fair treatment to traditional culture and a minimum damage to individuals or shelter them from damages. Promoting the best of traditional cultures will be the focus of training. Then, administrative accountability is not only necessary to highly effective and incorruptible government, but critical to gratification of citizenship's wishes of participation. Online government will be channel between government and people. Proper motivation will stimulate the urge to participate, but nonmaterial rewards are preferred to material ones. Finally, autonomous governance will encourage citizenship to take part in crisis management via resident's committees and villager's committees.