Rule of law and governance

Author: Qiang Shigong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: This book is a witness to this kind of era-forgotten syndrome, though it struggles against this forgetfulness, whether consciously or unconsciously. When people have become accustomed to using the concept of "social transformation" without hesitation, the author consistently employs the concept of "state transformation" in this book, because without state transformation, actual social transformation cannot occur, or social transformation lacks particular significance. However, whether using "state transformation" or "social transformation," the discussion is always framed within the theoretical framework of "state and society." Today, the distinction between "state transformation" and "social transformation" appears so important and urgent precisely because of how we theoretically approach "state and society" in this book. "The public sphere" is understood as a realm of mutual compromise and negotiation, thereby becoming a technical domain devoid of publicness, a purely procedural domain. State transformation is thus understood as the process in which various social forces mutually compromise and negotiate within this procedural domain, and the "revolution" involved is also understood as a procedural technique.