Comparison of legislative systems between China and the world

Author: Cao Haijing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: As China enters the new millennium, it faces both challenges and opportunities in deepening political reforms and building a socialist rule-of-law state. The report of the 15th National Congress explicitly stated: "The deepening of China's economic reforms and the-century development of socialist modernization require us, while adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles, to continue advancing political reforms, further expand socialist democracy, improve the socialist legal system, govern according to law, and build a socialist rule-of-law state." This is the historical task bestowed upon us by the times. Against this historical backdrop, the series Comparative Studies of Political Systems in China and Abroad has been introduced to the readers. Political systems are a set of rules for managing state and social political affairs, an important component of the institutional system. A country's political system is composed of the nature of the state, the form of government, the structure of the state, the system of government organs, and various specific political institutions that ensure the functioning of the state machinery. It is typically reflected and affirmed by law (especially the constitution) and guaranteed by the state's coercive power. To date, in the thousands of years of human civilization, various political systems have emerged, including ancient slave-state systems, medieval feudal systems, modern and contemporary capitalist systems, and socialist systems. Different political systems indicate different forms of the state, and they are linked to the state, belonging to the category of history. The political systems of states in the world today are diverse and varied. Currently, there are over 200 countries in the world. Once a state is established, the ruling class inevitably establishes a form of government and state structure that aligns with its interests, which political science state form. Due to the influence of economic development, class power dynamics, ethnic characteristics, political culture, historical traditions, and international political environments, state forms are diverse. The same type of state may have different state forms, and the state form of the same country may change under different historical conditions. Regarding the regimes of contemporary Western countries, they can be divided into constitutional monarchies and democratic republics; in terms of state power structure, they can be divided into federal and unitary systems; and in terms of the relationship between the head of state, the legislative body, and the executive body, they can be divided into cabinet governments, presidential governments, semi-cabinet and semi-presidential governments, and committee governments. From the perspective of the development history of the working-class state, the most typical forms of government include the Paris Commune form, the Soviet form, and the People's Congress form. As for individual political institutions, such as legislative systems, administrative systems, judicial systems, party systems, electoral systems, civil service systems, supervision systems, anti-corruption systems, military systems, and grassroots democratic self-governance systems, they are even more complex and varied in the world today, shining with the brilliance of human wisdom. Political systems are an important component of human civilization. Humans are rational political animals, creating and improving political systems according to their own ideas. The political systems of contemporary Western countries are the wisdom and creation of the Western nation, with notable characteristics such as "popular sovereignty," checks and balances, the rule of law, multiparty systems, parliamentary systems, universal suffrage, and term limits. The political systems of contemporary China are the wisdom and creation of the Chinese people, with main features such as people's sovereignty, leadership by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the principle of "the executive and legislative organs are one," the system of People's Congresses, the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation, regional autonomy for ethnic minorities, the "one country, two systems" principle, rural village self-governance, and urban resident self-governance. Whether it is the political systems of contemporary China or those of contemporary Western countries, they are both important achievements of human political civilization and significant innovations in the history of human civilization, differing yet interconnected. This determines that the exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and Western political civilizations are inevitable and necessary. A typical example is that the civil service system of Western countries today was inspired by China's imperial examination system, while China's system of People's Congresses was adopted indirectly from Western representative systems. We should learn from and adopt all beneficial things from abroad, including foreign political civilization, to leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses for our own use. In this regard, we must oppose two erroneous tendencies: one is to blindly copy foreign political systems without considering national realities, advocating "total Westernization"; and the other is to oppose blindly copying foreign political systems, distorting it into outright opposition to learning and borrowing. Both attitudes are unscientific and harmful to the development of democratic politics. Political systems are the focus of political science research. Political science is an ancient discipline of humanity. As early as over 300 years ago BC, the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote a treatise titled Politics, whose basic content was a comparative study of the various political systems of the 150 or so city-states at the time, hoping to discover an ideal political system for the state. In the modern era, many renowned political scholars still defined political science in terms of state political systems. The modern American political scholar Caner explicitly stated in his Encyclopedia of Political Science that political science is the study of state political systems. After World War II, due to the emergence of behavioralism in political science, the study of political systems in political science seemed to fade temporarily. However, starting from the 1970s, with the rise of post-behavioralism in political science, political systems once again became a key focus of Western political science research. Since the reform and opening-up, more and more scholars in China's political science field have engaged in the study of political systems at home and abroad, and have published a number of works on political systems. Among the most influential are the ten-volume Comprehensive History of the Chinese Political System, edited by Bai Gang, and the sixteen-volume Series on Contemporary Political Systems of Countries Around the World, edited by Yu Ke-ping. Political systems have significant implications for social development. Political systems belong to the superstructure of the social political system. They arise from a certain economic base, and their content, characteristics, development, operation, and evolution reflect certain economic relations and levels of productivity development. However, once established, political systems have relative independence, active initiative, and long-term stability. They often play various roles, sometimes even decisive ones. Deng Xiaoping once made a profound summary of the role of political systems, pointing out: "The various errors we have made in the past were indeed related to the thoughts and conduct of some individuals, but the problems of organizational and working systems were more important. Good systems can prevent bad people from running rampant, while poor systems can prevent good people from fully achieving their goals, even leading them astray." The errors of the ten-year Cultural Revolution, "do not mean that individuals bear no responsibility, but rather that the issues of leadership systems and organizational systems are more fundamental, comprehensive, stable, and long-term. Such system issues are related to whether the Party and the state change color and must be given high attention by the entire Party." (Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume 2, page 333) The political system of contemporary China was established on the basis of a backward country with underdeveloped productivity. On one hand, it lacks the necessary material foundation for democratic politics, severely limiting its practical implementation. On the other hand, there are remnants of feudalism such as authoritarianism, bureaucracy, and patriarchalism in the superstructure, which severely hinder the promotion and realization of democratic politics. We must examine China's contemporary political system with a historical materialist attitude, upholding and adhering to the good and distinctive aspects, reforming the bad and flawed aspects, and improving the basic aspects that are suitable but defective. Both theory and reality tell us that while advancing economic reforms and modernization, we must actively promote political reforms, improve the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics, which relates to the integrity and efficiency of the Party and the government, the smooth progress of economic and other reforms, the liberation and development of social productivity, the fair distribution of social interests, the protection of the democratic and free rights of the people, the realization of the superiority of socialism, and ultimately, the stability of society and the long-term peace and stability of the country. To adapt to the needs of reform and opening-up, modernization, and the development of the discipline of political science in the new century, we have decided to write the series Comparative Studies of Political Systems in China and Abroad. Guided by Marxist standpoints, perspectives, and methods, we aim to combine normative and empirical research, institutional and comparative research, to conduct a comparative analysis of the political systems of contemporary China and foreign countries (mainly the typical Western developed capitalist countries), exploring the historical formation and cultural background, structural content and basic characteristics, functional roles and operational mechanisms, system reforms and development trends of political systems at home and abroad, revealing the common laws of political development in human society, and inspiring people's thinking, serving the adherence to and improvement of the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics, and the development of China's discipline of political science. This series includes 10 volumes such as Comparative Studies of Representative Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Electoral Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Administrative Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Legislative Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Judicial Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Party Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Civil Service Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Supervision Systems in China and Abroad, Comparative Studies of Military Systems in China and Abroad, and Comparative Studies of Anti-Corruption Systems in China and Abroad. This series is a project of the National Key Discipline Construction Fund of Central China Normal University, led by Xu Yongmei, and involves experts and scholars from the Institute of Political and Social Development, School of Political Science and Law, School of Management, and the Institute of Political Science and Law of Hubei Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, among others, working collaboratively to complete it as a collective achievement. Comparative political systems are an important branch of political science. Research on comparative political systems in China, especially the comparison of political systems at home and abroad, is still in its initial stages. We hope that our research can serve as a catalyst for further studies. Due to subjective and objective limitations, there are inevitably flaws and errors in the book, and we sincerely welcome criticism and corrections from colleagues in political science and the readers to further revise and improve it. Finally, as the editor-in-chief of the series, I sincerely thank the relevant leaders and colleagues of Central China Normal University for their care and support, the colleagues of the Editorial Department of Commercial Press for their support and cooperation, and each individual who has provided assistance and friendship. Xu Yongmei January 1, 2000 This book mainly conducts a comparative study of the legislative systems of China and the main Western developed capitalist countries. It includes: defining the basic concepts of legislative systems; examining the history of legislative systems; legislative subject systems; legislative authority systems; legislative procedure systems; legislative technology systems; legislative interpretation systems; legislative supervision systems; and the relationship between legislation and parties, the executive, and the judiciary, among others. The publication of this book has certain reference significance for strengthening and improving China's legislative system.