The Way of Governing a Harmonious Society: Leaders' Narratives

Author: Wang Mengkui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Strengthening and improving public management is not only a key starting point for deepening reform but also an urgent need for building a harmonious socialist society. To enhance the level of public management, with approval from the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, since 2002, the Development Research Center of the State Council, Tsinghua University, and Harvard University in the United States have been co-organizing an annual Advanced Public Management Training Program. The training targets mainly deputy department-level leaders from central departments and local governments. The method combines theoretical learning with summarizing practical experience, and participants are required to write a case study based on their work experience upon graduation. This book selects 36 outstanding cases written by participants, covering topics such as the reform of government management systems, urban construction and management, crisis management and mass incidents, resources and ecological environments, education and public health, as well as economic reform and development. The events described are specific, but the spirit they embody has universal significance. We thank these leaders who share their insights on harmonious governance. With great passion, they have provided vivid case studies of strengthening and improving public management, coordinating interests, resolving social conflicts, and promoting social harmony based on the actual conditions of their regions and departments. A harmonious society is not one without conflicts. In China's primary stage of socialism, during the process of economic reform, the transformation of economic growth models, and social transformation, complex contradictions exist. The process of reform and development is also one of continuously resolving social conflicts. Old conflicts are resolved, but new ones arise under new conditions. Only by conducting in-depth and meticulous analysis of conflicts and adopting appropriate methods to resolve them, preventing localized issues from escalating into systemic ones and non-antagonistic conflicts from turning into antagonistic ones, and making every effort to reduce factors of disharmony while increasing harmonious elements, can the goals of reform and development be achieved more smoothly. This should be a principle throughout the entire process of building a harmonious socialist society and achieving modernization.