[Sound China] The whole process of consultative democracy development in urban and rural communities in the process of Chinese path to modernization | the people | the process

Author: Tang Binyao; Gao Gongjing

People's democracy is the life of socialism. Developing people's democracy throughout the process is one of the essential requirements of Chinese path to modernization, and deliberative democracy is an important form of practicing people's democracy throughout the process. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasizes the need to improve the system of people's autonomy, expand orderly political participation of the people, and propose the comprehensive development of consultative democracy and active development of grassroots democracy.However, the current practice of urban and rural community consultation faces shortcomings, weaknesses, and bottlenecks such as insufficient resident participation, narrow consultation scope, hollow consultation content, and imperfect consultation procedures, which to some extent hinder the development of grassroots autonomy and the entire process of people's democracy. This urgently requires in-depth research on the theory and practice of urban and rural community consultative democracy, summarizing replicable, sustainable, and actionable experiences of urban and rural consultative democracy, in order to achieve the goal of modernizing grassroots governance with a more solid foundation for the Party's governance and vibrant grassroots mass autonomy.

Comprehensively enhance the effectiveness of Party building in leading urban and rural community consultations. Adhering to and improving the Party's leadership in consultation democracy in urban and rural communities is the specific implementation of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics in the entire process of people's democratic work. We should always take strengthening the leadership and construction of the Party, and consolidating the foundation of the Party's governance as a red line that runs through socialist consultative democracy with Chinese characteristics. With the leadership of the Party, we should ensure the correct direction of consultative democracy in urban and rural communities, provide precise services to strengthen the political functions of grassroots Party organizations, build a pattern of co construction, co governance, and sharing with Party organizations as the core, and test the results of grassroots Party building through the effectiveness of grassroots consultations. In response to the phenomenon of some urban and rural community party organizations implementing lax and non-standard systems such as consultation and deliberation, "four discussions and two disclosures", and democratic management, it is necessary to improve the relevant systems for adhering to and strengthening the comprehensive leadership of the party in urban and rural community consultations. Important matters and major issues related to grassroots consultations should be decided by the party organizations through procedural research and discussion. The key is to strengthen the construction of grassroots party organizations, enhance their political functions and organizational strength, effectively integrate all parties involved in urban and rural community consultations, discuss matters easily, and let everyone discuss their affairs. We will focus on solving prominent problems that restrict the effectiveness of party building in leading urban and rural community consultations.

Enrich the forms of participation in urban and rural community consultation practices. The practice of democratic consultation in urban and rural communities in our country is still in its early stages of development. Based on fully utilizing existing institutional arrangements and ensuring the stable operation of democratic consultation in urban and rural communities, we should dare to create new institutional arrangements, optimize the mechanism of community consultation, and enrich the forms of community consultation participation in response to the diversity and differences in democratic practice. At present, various regions are combining their own realities to innovate distinctive types of urban and rural community consultation democracy. We need to extract, summarize, and promote the vivid experiences created by the people's wisdom and strength in community consultation democracy practice, and tell the story of "China's governance" well. One is to promote consultation through think tanks, which will cultivate groups with relatively high cultural levels and certain experience and ability in community consultation, such as party member representatives, retired cadres, key members of the masses, and new rural elites, to become the backbone force of community consultation and deliberation. They will collect social and public opinion, assist the community "two committees" in determining consultation topics, formulating deliberation plans, organizing consultation meetings, promoting issue resolution, and continuously paying attention to the implementation of consultation results. The second is the micro consultation between the building and the courtyard, which takes the community building as the unit, elects the building president and the courtyard committee, and carries out consultations around the practical livelihood services of the building and courtyard, linking the interests and responsibilities of the residents, reflecting the sharing of interests and responsibilities. The third is expert mediated open space consultation, which is trained by external experts. Through participatory demand surveys, residents' concerns and needs are sorted, and problems are solved through consultation while preventing them from occurring.

Improve the consultation procedures for urban and rural communities. To ensure the effectiveness, scientificity, and legality of negotiations, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive community consultation procedure throughout the entire process. Only by not omitting, skipping, and being more down-to-earth in the procedure can we ensure that the deliberation process is rigorous and orderly, information is transparent, and the results are true and effective, promoting the continuous development of consultation democracy in urban and rural communities. In response to the lack of democratic hearing and supervision procedures in some communities, as well as the difficulty in implementing negotiation and deliberation results, it is necessary to implement community consultation work effectively, timely disclose negotiation matters, and accept public supervision. In response to the problems of low participation of middle-aged and young residents and insufficient representativeness in community consultations, a combination of online and offline methods should be adopted, including "residents taking photos", "community woodpeckers", and "people's butlers" scanning services. Innovative and convenient platforms for online discussions and resident storytelling should be established, and the online discussion and consultation procedures should be standardized to facilitate channels for various entities to participate in consultations. The entire process of community consultations should be better integrated into the daily lives of residents, guiding the masses to actively participate in community consultations and comprehensively stimulate the vitality of grassroots governance.

Expand channels for urban and rural community consultation and participation. We need to expand the orderly consultation and participation of the people from all levels and fields, so that various systems and grassroots governance can better reflect the will of the people, protect their rights and interests, stimulate their creativity, and make urban and rural community consultations vibrant. Establish a sound grid discussion and consultation mechanism led by party organizations, and guide residents to negotiate and resolve practical difficulties and conflicts related to the vital interests of the masses within the grid; If grid negotiation cannot resolve the issue, it shall be submitted to the higher-level party organization for negotiation and resolution. Encourage and support the establishment of community elderly associations, women's councils, and children's councils, and build platforms for the participation of the elderly, women, and children in community consultations. Establish micro negotiation platforms and mechanisms in commercial buildings and commercial districts, increase emotional incentives, point incentives, honor incentives, and policy incentives, and facilitate and regulate the channels for market entities, new social classes, social organizations, volunteers, and resident units to participate in community consultations. Promote new employment groups such as couriers, food delivery drivers, and ride hailing drivers to report and register at the Party and Mass Service Center, integrate into grassroots negotiation and governance, and fully leverage the "mobile probe" role of express delivery outlets covering urban and rural areas, and new employment groups wandering the streets and streets, familiar with the social situation and public opinion transmission of building communities. Pay attention to the role of Party representatives, National People's Congress representatives, and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the consultation and democracy of urban and rural communities. Give full play to the roles of police officers, lawyers, and grassroots legal service workers, carry out in-depth legal activities in the community, and provide legal support for community discussions and consultations. Explore expert resources both inside and outside the community, invite relevant theoretical and practical experts to provide specialized training for community council representatives. Through regular training on professional theoretical and practical knowledge, enhance the negotiation awareness of community council representatives, improve their negotiation ability, and master the skills of negotiation.

Expand the scope of urban and rural community consultation affairs. The current content of community consultation democracy mainly focuses on the construction of infrastructure such as water, electricity, and heating, as well as the maintenance of community environmental sanitation. However, there is still a lack of consultation on practical difficulties and conflicts that residents strongly express and urgently need to solve, as well as public affairs, public welfare undertakings, and other aspects that involve the vital interests of residents, around the implementation of the work policies and key tasks of grassroots party committees and governments. The governance behavior of grassroots political power should be aligned with the interests and demands of the masses, and the "maximum common denominator" of grassroots negotiated governance should be found. The community "two committees" should expand the scope of consultation affairs, leverage the advantages of community social organizations, resident units, and social workers in the field of consultation and discussion, and assist in consultation and discussion. Establish and improve the consultation and discussion mechanism for community "two committees", property committees, and property service enterprises under the guidance of party building. Through joint meetings, sincere talks, mediation meetings, and other means, regularly organize all parties to negotiate property service issues in the community and solve property management service problems through consultation. For cross community or supra community negotiation issues that involve the vital interests of community residents, the community shall first negotiate and resolve them; If community negotiation cannot resolve the issue, then submit it to the township for leading negotiation and resolution. Efforts should be made to enhance the decision-making and consultation capabilities of townships. County level party committees and governments should determine the key points of township consultations around matters that involve the vital interests of the masses, improve the corresponding policies for refining the comprehensive management rights, planning participation rights, major decision-making and project proposal rights of township level public affairs, and have township party committees take the lead in conducting discussions and consultations. They should improve the negotiation methods such as symposiums and hearings, focus on playing the role of National People's Congress representatives and CPPCC members, explore the establishment of a system for the public to attend relevant meetings in townships, and give full play to the negotiation and discussion platform function of township party and mass service centers.

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