Study On "Degu" Groups’ Participation In The Legalization Of Grassroots Social Governance In Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture

Promoting the legalization of social governance is an important element of law-based governance in all fields.Grassroots social governance in ethnic areas is an indispensable and key link for social governance in China.We must build up the sense of community for the Chinese Nation and take it as our main task,also improve the level of rule of law in grassroots social governance in the ethnic areas.Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture is the largest Yi settlement area in China.In the 1950 s,this area directly transformed from the feudal era to the socialism,like the saying goes,it achieved an "over thousand years leap".Liangshan has deep cultural heritage,as history developing and accumulating,it’s been forming a wild variety of traditional governance resources including the "Degu",a folk mediator with highly respected morality,both integrity,capacity and great credibility.In history,the "Degu" effectively defused contradictions and disputes,which played a nonnegligible role in promoting social harmony and stability.Zhaojue County is located in the hinterland of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture,where the "Degu" is playing a crucial role in local grassroots social governance,but there are also some irregularities.In order to promote the law-based governance of primary level society,a series of measures have been formulated and implemented by Zhaojue County to normalize the participation of "Degu" in grassroots social governance and local dispute mediation,including the following aspects:Firstly,the "Degu" takes part in the resolution of the conflict as a local’s mediator.A number of people’s mediators are selected in the "Degu" to mediate civil and commercial disputes according to laws.Compared with the traditional "Degu" mediation,it demonstrates the characteristics of standardization and legalization.Secondly,"Degu" participate in judicial activities as a people’s juror.In light of local conditions,after being recommended by the masses,screened and examined by the county people’s Court and required legal procedures,some of them have been appointed as people’s jurors by the people’s Congress in county to participate in judicial mediation,trials of cases and post-lawsuit return visits.Thirdly,"Degu" participates in administrative mediation as a special mediator."Degu" has been invited by Zhaojue County Tax Bureau as a specially invited mediator to participate in the mediation of tax contradictions and disputes,making the process of resolving tax contradictions and disputes closer to the masses and the results more convincing and acceptable to the masses.In addition,"Degu" also actively participates in the construction of social norms,publicity and education to raise public awareness of law,"drug control and AIDS prevention" and other social public welfare activities,leading local people to give up old rules and habits,and establish a modern,scientific and law-based way of life.In a word,in grassroots social governance,"Degu" can be the assistance of autonomy,the practitioner of the rule of law,and the participant of the rule of virtue,which is conducive to stabilizing social order,creating a legal atmosphere,and promoting the construction of local customs and civilization.Grass-roots social governance has achieved favorable results with "Degu" ’s participation,but still got aspects to be improved.At the practical level,due to the insufficient supervision of the relevant departments,the standardization of "Degu" mediation is weak,so freewheeling mediation and arbitrary charges do exist.And at the conceptual level,there are problems such as "Degu" lacks the ability to use legal thinking and legal way to solve disputes.Thus,it needs to be optimized from the following aspects: First,it is necessary to strengthen the norm construction of their mediation,to regulate the mediation methods and charging rules,and to improve the incentive and supervision mechanism.Second,better training is need to intensify the rule of law awareness of "Degu",and enhance Degu’s ability to apply their legal thinking and approach.Third,the mediation of "Degu" should abide by the rules of the Civil Code,so they should apply customs legally and reasonably,and promote the resolution of contradictions and disputes.Fourth,the level of self-government of locals should be raised and provide a standardized path for "Degu" to participate in grass-roots social governance.Fifth,we must adhere to the integration of rule by virtue and rule by law,take the socialist core values as the guide,tap the reasonable values of traditional governance resources such as the "Degu",and lay a solid cultural foundation for the effective governance of grass-roots society.At the same time,we should also dialectically examine the traditional resources of ethnic and folk governance,take creating a strong sense of community of the Chinese nation as the main line,properly identify and critically inherit them under the national law,thereby adapt to the trend of modernization of social governance,and strive to improve the legal level of grass-roots social governance in Liangshan.