A Typical Practice Analysis Of Deliberative Democracy In Contemporary China

Deliberative democracy is a democratic mode derived from Western countries, emphasizing on extensive political participation and sufficient democratic consultation. It is an indispensible democratic form in contemporary China. Chinese traditional culture, united front theory and mass line thoughts are theoretical sources for Chinese deliberative democracy, which exert great influences upon the origin and development of Chinese deliberative democracy. The progressing of Chinese deliberative democracy is roughly divided into four stages, namely ancient stage, modern transformative stage from political deliberation, establishment and perfection stage after the establishment of New China and new stage of socialist deliberative democracy. The four stages are closed interrelated, each of which has its own features. They show the development of Chinese deliberative democracy.The practice of deliberative democracy in Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC) and National People’s Congress(NPC) typically represents Chinese deliberative democracy, which is seen in their working procedures. CPPCC carries out the work of deliberative democracy in different forms based on its three functions. Through the study of the work done by Qingdao People’s Political Consultative Conference, its important role is showed on supporting scientific decision-making, supervising effectively and offering advice and suggestions. The intersectant application of deliberation forms, like topic deliberation and counterparts deliberation, improves the pragmaticality of the deliberative democracy of Qingdao People’s Political Consultative Conference. To enhance the internal construction of CPPCC is a priority in deliberative democracy. And to improve the quality and standards of deliberation, to drive the deliberative results to be honored and to promote the extensiveness of deliberation are the key points. In the meantime, the Communist Party of China(CPC) and state organs need to strengthen their connection with CPPCC, in order to help it play a better role to greatest extent. Deliberative democracy of NPC is reflected in legislation, performances of NPC members and other aspects. Some practices prove that deliberative democracy is of importance in enhancing the relationship between NPC and the people. Of course, there are some problems in deliberative democracy of NPC. The insufficient deliberation and discussion due to the lack of systematic standards and deliberative channels are typical examples. To solute these problems, institutions and norms need to be perfected, along with various deliberative channels of NPC. Besides, supervision needs to be reinforced in case of undesirable phenomena, like “going through the motions” or “becoming formalistic”.