The Hidden Agenda In Legislation And Its Cooperative Governance

The legislative agenda-setting is the initial stage of the legislation, it concernsnot the content of the specific law, but the selection of legislative issues. As a stage"prior to legislation ", it often determines the future of the problem, because only theissue to be included in the legislative agenda, the subsequent processes are possible,if the issue is put on hold, it means that the lawmakers have nothing to do, of course,there would be no the problem of law making. The democratization of legislationrequires implementing democratic principle in the whole process of legislation, if itis only embodied in the law-making process, and has nothing to do with theagenda-setting stage, this is obviously not the complete and thoroughdemocratization of the legislation.By investigating the legislation planning，proposal system and the initiativeright of legislation in our country, We find that our country’s legislative agenda ishighly dominated by the state, and this is a kind of regret that it does not implementthe democratic spirit of the legislation thoroughly. Through the analysis of themultiple dimensions of power, we think that the biggest disadvantage of the state tocontrol the legislative agenda is the emergence of the hidden agenda, which meansthe public authority intentionally use the legislative power to block some issues. Forthe hidden agenda, our institutionalized control mechanisms are either ineffective ormissing, and can not play the corresponding corrective role. But outside theinstitutionalized mechanisms, public participation is impressive with its unique logicof action, it not only expresses the voices from society effectively, but also correctthe hidden agenda to some extent. But because of the building of legislative agendathrough public participation lacks of institutionalized guarantee, it does not reallycontrol the hidden agenda.Either the top-down legislative agenda controlled by the state or the bottom-uplegislative agenda pressured by the society has the deficiencies and shortcomings,and can not really guarantee the democratic and scientific legislation. In the face ofinteractive and cooperative background of the state and society, and the theory resources of good governance and cooperative governance continues to mature, thisarticle puts forward the cooperative agenda-setting mechanism, and think this is thefundamental way to correct the hidden agenda and make up the deficiencies ofpublic participation. In order to make up their respective shortcomings, thecooperative agenda-setting mechanism places more attention on the interaction andcooperation between the state and society, meanwhile, this article also thinks thecooperative agenda-setting mechanism is the trend of the legislative agendamechanism in the future.