Legislative Decision Theory

Author: Yu Zhaobo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This book addresses the realities of China, taking the modern legislative practices of the world as its backdrop, and explores and analyzes the foundations, value orientations, content and methods, subjects, procedures, implementation, and evaluation of legislative decision-making. The author argues that during the legislative process, while "treating procedures with care," one should also "handle legislative decision-making with caution." The author believes that legislative decision-making possesses five key characteristics: communicative, negotiable, selective, political, and self-disciplined. The fundamental value pursuit of legislative decision-making is democracy, science, the rule of law, and order, which are successively the moral foundation, rational connotation, institutional pursuit, and social positioning of legislative decision-making. Although they are often in tension, they can be summarized in one sentence: legislative decision-making for democracy. Modern legislative bodies operate under a deliberative system, where both legislative decision-making power and various influencing factors surrounding this power exist. Legislative decision-making must proceed in accordance with procedural regulations, integrating within the possibilities of the procedural space to produce public goods that are acceptable or at least tolerable to all parties. The implementation of legislative decision-making refers to the drafting of bills. There is a fundamental principle boundary between legislative decision-making and its implementation, with a significant distinction between the two. At the same time, the boundary between decision-making and implementation is blurred, with overlapping areas. The author of this book advocates that legislative decision-making power is an inalienable right, while bill drafting power is a delegable right. It is necessary to restore the legislative decision-making power to its rightful place and to open bill drafting power to the public.