Li Dazhao's Thought Of Democracy And Rule Of Law

In the new stage of the 21^st century, great progress has been made in the social and economic development of China, which has created favorable conditions for a deeper political system reform and a more overall implementation of the strategy of ruling the country by law. The construction of democracy and rule of law has not been adapted to the enlarged development of democracy and economy yet. Thus, in this new stage when we soon will stride into the building well-off society, it is of huge necessity to deepen the thought of improving the democracy and rule of law, promoting and implementing the thought of ruling by law. Along with constructing a harmonious society, China is striving to improve the legal system, and legal education is showing its vital prosperity. New historical period naturally endows law researchers with sublime missions. This society appeals law researchers to fight for a democratic and rule of law country. We shall learn the advanced democratic politics and the thought of ruling by law from various countries during the study process. However, we can not separate from the actual situations of the country and ignore the influence of the environment. Meanwhile, we can not separate from the origin in studying the rule of law in China. Li Dazhao, as guidon in New Culture Movement, who once studied abroad in Japan in Waseda University, accomplished a lot in the study of democracy and rule of law. Moreover, Li is also an apotheosis in practical revolution, whose thought of democracy and rule of law is still significant in meaning and reference for the construction of democratic and rule of law country.Accordingly, the author studies Li Dazhao's thought of democracy and rule of law with great care, and attempts to find the enlightenments for the construction and implementation of a country ruled by law. The thesis is composed of six parts, and the framework is introduced as follows:Chapter one discusses the social and historical background of Li Dazhao's thought of ruling the country by law, which includes the time background, cultural background, social economic development and theoretical background in Li's time.Chapter two further concludes the development of Li's thought which consists of three periods: admiring the Western democratic politics, devoting to democratic republic and conversing in Marxism.Chapter three describes Li's democratic thoughts by exploring his"Min Yi thinking", his idea against the Confucius feudalism, and his Populism.Chapter four explores Li's constitution from his decentralization theory and election system to his formulation of constitution and province government. He states to rule the country by constitution and argues the supremacy of constitution.Chapter five analyzes Li's viewpoint of human rights, for it is the purpose of democracy and rule of law. Discussion includes national self-determination right, the right to protect life and health, and the right to protect woman and freedom.Chapter six focuses on the limitations of Li's thought of democracy and rule of law, and the enlightenments to build a democratic and rule of law country, in order to reach the aim of serving as theoretical reference for the construction of law governing society.