Study On Legalization Of Citizen's Participation In Administrative Decision

Citizens' participation in administrative decision-making means that citizens play a role in the process of administrative decision-making and influence its results so that their claim of interests can be respected and the administrative decisions can be reasonable.It is necessary for modernization of the government and is one of the ingredients of rule of law.With the improvement of social progress and democratization,some achievements have been made in the institutionalization of Citizens' participation in administrative decision-making.However,at present in our country there is no effective way for citizens to participate in the making of many administrative decisions closely connected with their lives.This article further defines citizens' participation in administrative decision-making and argues necessity of it in terms of rights and process of decision-making.Meanwhile,this paper has found the key reasons for problems citizens encounter in participation through the analysis of China's law for citizens' participation in administrative decision-making and implementation of them.On the basis of the above mentioned,this paper points out core elements to be included in these laws.By discussing these core elements one by one,suggestions are made on legislation of citizens' participation in administrative decision-making.First of all,this article defines citizens' participation in administrative decision-making and analyzes the role related laws play and defects of them.The reasons why citizens have not achieved good results in participation are pointed out as below: 1)Citizens' will and ability to participate are all weak;2)Scope of decision matters citizens can participate in has not been clearly defined;3)Citizens' right to be masters in decision making has not been confirmed or guaranteed.4)There is no procedural path or institutional guarantee for citizens' participation as yet.Regarding development of citizens' will and ability to participate,Laws concerning government information disclosure should be further improved and implemented so as to meet the needs of citizens to participate as well as grassroots social organizations should be activated so as to play an active role in guidance of citizens' participation.Regarding the scope of decision matters citizens can participate in,all of the decision matters need citizens' participation and moreover citizens should participate in different forms and different sizes according to degree of complexity,degree of social impact and degree of public concern of each decision matter.Regarding guarantee of citizens' right to be masters in decision making,the scope of citizen participants should be expanded as far as possible so that stakeholders,experts and other people caring about a certain matter of decision have the opportunity to participate.Regarding establishment of procedures and rules for citizens' participation,these procedures and rules should be developed in terms of start of participation process,agenda,and supervision of the effect of participation so as to ensure fairness as well as efficiency.Hearings are approaches for citizens' participation in administrative decision and their value lies in that government agencies can hear stakeholders' claims and suggestions.Therefore the public has high hopes for them.However,in reality hearings failed to play a role effectively in our country because citizens' status as participants in the making of administrative decisions is neglected.Therefore,it is necessary to construct the institution of hearings in aspects of organizers,quota of delegates,agenda and so on.The above points are respectively demonstrated in detail in this paper,on the basis of which Legislative recommendations are proposed to effectively protect citizens' right to participate in administrative decision-making.This paper suggests that the institution for citizens' participation should be established and completed in ways including: 1)to improve laws of government information disclosure and to make the government genuinely abide by them so as to meet citizens' need of information;2)to define responsibility and power of grassroots social organizations in citizens' participation in administrative decision-making so as to make them to activate and play their own positive role;3)to expand the scope of citizen participants and the scope of decision matters they can participate and to definitely affirm in laws citizens' right as master;4)to establish procedures and rules for citizens' participation in aspects of start of participation process,agenda,and supervision of the effect of participation so as to ensure fairness as well as efficiency.