A Study On The Migrant Workers’ Political Participation In China

In the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it wasproposed that China would attain its goal to build a well-off society in2020. Inresponse to the new changes in the domestic and international situation, newrequirements were also put forward in the congress regarding the five respects ofpolitics, economy, culture, society and ecological civilization. The political goal is toexpand the people’s democracy and fully implement the strategy of ruling the countryby law. With the development of economy and society, The industrial workers inChina have made enormous contribution for the socialist modernization, urbanizationand improvement of the city people’s living conditions. But there is not enoughpolitical participation of migrant workers owning to the impact of urban-rural dualsystem, inadequate laws, regulations and policies, low economic status and poorpersonal qualities. The problem also lies in the lack of political consciousness,deficient organization of political participation and impeded political participationchannels. Therefore, research on the migrant workers’ political participation is of vitalsignificance for promoting the process of democratization in political affairs in Chinaand for the strategy of ruling the country by law.This thesis systematically and theoretically studies the migrant workers’ politicalparticipation in China in the following aspects: the basic theory and significance of it,its current situation, factors that restrict their participation in politics andcountermeasures to solve the problem of inadequate participation.The first part is the introduction on the background and significance of thisresearch, current research situation, innovations and deficiencies of this thesis.The second part is about the basic theory and significance of migrant workers’political participation. This part studies the definition of migrant workers, theformation and development process of them as well as the types and characteristics ofmigrant workers’ political participation. It is pointed out that strengthening the political participation of migrant workers is of vital significance for the completion ofa well-off society, the construction of socialist democratic politics and of harmoniousand stable socialism, the development of rural areas and maintenance of their owninterests.The third part explores the factors that restrict the migrant workers politicalparticipation. After the reform and opening up, Chinese migrant workers haveparticipated in politics to some extent, but there still exists some problems: lack ofpolitical consciousness, deficient organization of political participation and impededpolitical participation channels. This part also explores the reasons for these problemsfrom the aspects of urban-rural dual system, inadequate laws, regulations and policies,low economic status and poor personal qualities.The fourth part focuses on the countermeasures to expand the involvement ofmigrant workers in politics, including: improve migrant workers’ personal quality,strengthen and improve the construction of the legal and management system,broaden the channels of political participation for migrant workers and raise theeconomic status of migrant workers etc.