QIAN Jinyu*
Abstract: The modernization of national governance has become the fifth modernization that modem China urgently needs to push forward and bring into reality. The building of a modem Chinese model of national governance must pursue, as its ultimate goals, the realization of the happiness of the people. The modernization of China’s national governance has chosen to rely on realizing good governance based on good laws, whereas development is the intrinsic force driving such modernization. Participating in global human rights governance and building a community with a shared future for human beings are connotation requirements of the modernization of China’s national governance.
Keywords:happiness ♦ modernization of national governance ♦ human rights ♦ a community with a shared future for human beings
I. Introduction
Reform is the leading impetus for development. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and on the foundation of the improved and developed socialist system with Chinese characteristics, advancing the modernization of the national governance system and capacity has become the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform in the contemporary Chinese political process. In a certain sense, for China, entering the second decade of the 21st century, the modernization of national governance has become the “fifth modernization” of modern China and it is extremely urgent.
China stands at a critical junction of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, but the great achievements made by China are also breeding a plethora of difficulties: unstable supply of core strategic resources for high-quality sustainable development, the urgent need for structural adjustmentsto promote economic growth, fair distribution of reform and development dividends, the imbalance between the ecological environment and economic development, and the complexity of social conflicts and disputes. Meanwhile, the contradiction between the people’s increasing needs for a better life and the imbalanced and inadequate development is now the main contradiction of Chinese society in the new era. Higher and newer requirements are being made by the Chinese people in their quest for a better life, development, however, is being pulled back from realizing balance and adequacy due to the relative lag inreform of governance, thus resulting in the main contradiction of Chinese society in the new era. The key to solving the above problems lies in comprehensively deepening reforms, improving the socialist system, advancing the modernization of national governance, and realizing the modernizationof the governance system and capacity. The successful realization of the modernizationof thegovernance system and capacity can be considered as the biggest bottleneck restricting China’s development. The effect of the modernization of national governance is intertwined with the possibility of China achieving the “two centenary” goals of the Chinese Communist Party and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation amid the fierce competition with other countries in the world. It is right for this reason that the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China once again clearly gave priority to and put theemphasis on adherence to and improvement of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics as well as the promotion of the national governance system and the modernization of governance capacity.
If the modernization of national governance has been placed right at the core of China’s political issues, and the promotion of the modernization of national governance on the basis of adhering to and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics has been taken as a major strategic task of the Communist Party of China, then the next question is what should be the value orientation and approaches with respect tothe modernization of national governance for China, and what inspiration from China’s concepts and experiences can be drawn upon by the world for the development of global human rights cause and global governance, etc.?It is an inevitable requirement to explain these issues theoretically so as to build up China’s self-confidence in its political path, theories, institutions, and culture.
From the perspective of human rights theory, the modernization of China’s national governancewill be realized by ensuring people can have a happy life — the value orientation.The modernization of China’s national governance has chosen to rely on realizing good governance based on good law, whereas remaining development is the intrinsic force driving such modernization. Participating in global human rights governance and building a community with a shared future for human beings are connotation requirements of the modernization of China’s national governance.
II. The Happiness of the People: the Value Orientation of the Modernization of China’s National Governance
Human rights have been gradually shaped into a basic moral, legal and political principle by thinkers and politicians since the Enlightenment. The heinous crimes committed by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan before and during the Second World War led to the agreement that whether to safeguard and guarantee human rights is one of the important signs to judge whether any political community has legitimacy and righteousness, and an important criterion to judge the goodness of any political community.
It is widely believed today that human rights (of all human beings, not only citizens or peoples) must be respected and protected. Although it is far from reaching a theoretical consensus on what the core and fundamental human rights are, it is doubtless that the legitimacy and vitality of any political community originates from the most common demands of its members, i.e. a happy life.
The concept of human rights in the West was born during the process of the struggle between the emerging bourgeoisie and feudal monarchy. For both Hobbes and Locke, the social contract was built on top of the value goal of a survival-based happy life. Starting from the logical starting point of people’s aspirations for their own well-being and security, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau et al. described the conclusion of social contracts and the transfer of natural rights from various angles, and constructed their theory whereby people in the state of nature conditionally transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better ensure their rights to lives, liberty, and property. Values established and highly hailed by the social contract theory — safety, order, freedom and equality are regarded by any modern political civilization as the core values of their political and human rights systems, for which they were established and protected. And safety, freedom, equality, and order are the fundamental conditions for human beings to realize the ultimate goal of constructing a political community, namely a survival-based happy life. The Declaration of Independence, which Marx referred to as the “First Declaration of Human Rights” in the world, also declared “the right to life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness” as a definite and inalienable right of human beings, and the basic human rights.
Reiterating “human happiness” as the fundamental value of the political system is of greater importance in the 21st century Western values system. This is because classical natural law theory, natural rights, and social contract hypothesis cannot effectively respond to the challenges and questioning of modern human sciences dominated by scientific imperialism. Therefore, contemporary Western political philosophers and ethicists resorted to perspectives of human happiness and human basic values to defend human rights, whose legitimacy is proved by justifying the indispensability of human rights for human happiness and tranquility.
Human history, in the theoretical realm of Marxism, is the history of human beings’ continuous marching toward freedom and liberation, and the history of human beings’ continuous achieving all-around self-development. That is, it is a history of human beings’ continuous pursuit of happiness. Alienation, however, is the biggest obstacle to human beings’ happiness. The core problem that Marxism must first solve is the alienation of people caused by private ownership. The society throws people into a state of slavery by putting the shackles of private ownership on them. For Marx the capital-alienated “sheep” ate the true nature of “man”. In the Marxist theoretical system, the ultimate goal of theoretical struggle and the highest social ideal is to achieve the complete liberation of man and create a union holding high the banner of “the free development of everyone is a condition for the free development of all people”.1 Therefore, the soul of Marxism lies in realizing liberation and free development and pursuing happiness for man. It is for this reason that Chinese President Xi Jinping solemnly stated in a congratulatory letter to the Symposium Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Publication of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “The happy life of the people is the greatest human right”.2
For the Chinese government, human rights have never ceased to be a great cause. President Xi Jinping has made it clear that “efforts will be firmly made in marching on the path of peaceful development and advancing China’s as well as world’s human rights cause”.3 In a fundamental sense, the very nature of the Chinese dream will be the dream of realizing human rights, and the ultimate values of the Chinese dream are human rights and dignity, the all-round development of human beings, and the happy life of human beings. What is being the subject of the Chinese dream is the people, what is standing at the core of the Chinese dream is the fundamental interests of the people, and the externalization of interests turns out to be just human rights. Therefore, the dream of the Chinese nation’s historical rejuvenation, the dream of a strong nation with democracy, prosperity, and civilization, and the dream of a happy life centered on people’s dignity and all-round development, are actually a dream featuring three in one. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “The Chinese people are aiming at and stepping towards to the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This will protect the human rights of the Chinese people at a higher level and promote the all-round developmentof human beings”.4
III. Good Governance Based on Good Law: the Right Approaches with Respect to the Modernizationof China’s National Governance
As mentioned earlier, the 21st century in today’s time considers people’s happy life as the value orientation of the modernization of national governance. But how to achieve this great value goal, that is, in what kind of way the state should be governed assuring people’s pursuit and realization of a happy life? The decision of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee clearly stated that law is the most important tool to govern the country, and good law is a prerequisite for good governance. Good governance featuring the rule of law is the basic description of the modernization of China’s national governance model.
In the perspective of comparative politics, the alienation of Western democratic rule people are looking toChina’s national governance model as an alternative. The alienation of Western democratic rule is mainly generated by the separation of voters and representatives and the bureaucracy. Representative democracy is no solution to the separation of voters and their representatives. Voting simply produces a government, and democracy ends right after the election. Democratic politics, rather than being the “rule of the people” is the “rule of the political class”.5 In a certain sense, bureaucracy is a product of the alienation that exists in popular politics. Marxism believes that the creators of history are the people, while the essence of bureaucracy is the separation from the masses. The legitimacy of the ruling party will be exposed to questioning and weakening as soon as it is pulled apart from the people. It should also be made clear that the separation of people and their supposed representatives and the prevalence of bureaucracy both result in the degradation of government’s public responsibilities, derailing the state and the government from the pursuing the original goal and fundamental responsibility: the quest for public well-being of all and the push for overall development of all. What people are presented with by alienated representative democratic rule is the fact that “Once the regime is selected, the logic of politics holds that the attention must be greatly given to the question about what is needed to maintain the regime instead of what is needed to drive human development forward”.6 The end result is a direct and indirect dissolution of the legitimacy of political rule, that is, “when the public responsibility of rational bureaucracy is reduced to a political ruling tool, the spirit of bureaucracy starts to turn its back to public responsibility, crisis will be seen in the credibility, the administrative ethic, while public responsibilities collapse”.7
“Good governance” was proposed by Western theorists as a means to end the alienation and bureaucracy of traditional democratic rule, and the degradation of government public responsibility generated thereby. Good governance, at its root, means proper governance. It is the process of social government maximizing the public interest, rather than the effect of maximizing the interests of the government or a particular group. The very characteristic of good governance is, by diversifying governance subjects, to realize cooperative governance of public affairs by the government and citizens. It is a new type of cooperative network relationship between the government, the market, society, and the people.
Adhering to the strategic deployment of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, good governance has to be an important goal to construct a the-rule-of-law-centered the modernization of China’s national governance model. Political scientists even point out that “the realization of good governance is the ultimate goal of the political system”.8 For good governance, two of its clear and distinct markers of the era are modernization and the rule of law. Of course, there is no denying that another marker inseparable from good governance for any given country is itslocalization. Therefore, good governance characterized by modernization, the rule of law, and localization is intrinsically related to the path of national governance with Chinese characteristics with the rule of law at the core. Good governance, one of the goals of the path of national governance with Chinese characteristics with the rule of law at the core, objectively requires that public participation and government information disclosure with Chinese characteristics to be organically dovetailed with the national governance centered on the rule of law for the organic combination of the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the people’s congress system and public participation, through which representative democracy and participatory democracy are well matched and effectively employed in pursuit of a better life for the people.
It is worth noting that governance subjects are not the only thing diversified in good governance, governance rules too. That is to say, not only the Party’s leadership, the government’s leadership and the participation of the public should be given importance in realizing effective national governance and the goal of good governance, but also the normativity of governance and the diversity of governance basis. It is not only national laws that are relied on for the rules of national governance participation, intra-party regulations, the normative basis for Party governance and management and the institutional guarantee for the promotion of a ruled-by-law socialist country, are also significant. At the same time, in the face of the real national conditions of multi-ethnic countries, attention must also be paid to potential value and unique role of religious precepts and national customary laws in governing specific social regions and settling civil disputes. How to realize the cooperation, benign interaction, adjustment and integration of national laws, intra-party regulations, national laws and folk laws deserves a round of exploration, so that the modern national governance model with Chinese characteristics with the rule of law at the core can be promoted, and the modernizationof governance can be improved and good governance can be achieved.
It can be seen that in China constructing good governance with the rule of law at the center is a political governance template to realize a happy life based on human dignity and human rights centered on the all-around development of human beings. To this end, “continuous economic and social development promotion is necessarily to be promoted, people’s well-being, social equity and justice are necessarily to be boosted, protection of human rights and the rule of law is required to be strengthen, and the comprehensive coordinated development needs to be realized between economic, social, and cultural rights and civil and political rights. The level of protection of the right to live and development has set foot on a human rights development path in line with China’s national conditions”.9 Good governance centered on the rule of law will unavoidably lose track of direction and lose hold of its core value when the human rights protection and human rights development goals are lost.
Governance self-confidence is inseparable from the modernization of national governance, and the shaping of governance self-confidence grows from comprehensively deepening reform.
In a certain sense, the history of the development of human civilization is the history of human society governance. If “a true civilizational rejuvenation or the emergence of a new civilization must be accompanied by political self-confidence”,10 this political self-confidence must include governance self-confidence. Governance, for a country’s path, theories and institutions, is the most direct and holistic expression at the political level. Governance is not only a skill but also a culture. Governance self-confidence is also a manifestation of cultural confidence. Good governance with Chinese characteristics is closely bonded with the self-confidence in its governance culture. Where does the confidence in governance culture originate? On first look, governance self-confidence could be enhanced and strengthened in many ways, including obtaining logical self-consistency and coherence in governance theories, achieving prominent results from governance practices, pinpointing unique system advantages from comparison with the governance models of other countries (the flaws and problems of the self-governance model should of course also be addressed), sharing experience in dialogues on global governance model while managing to gain the acknowledgement of other countries. On a second and closer look, it becomes clear that the gain of governance self-confidence basically grows from the ongoing reform of governance.
As a matter of fact, reform is a powerful and quality gene that runs through the Chinese cultural tradition. According to Arnold Toynbee’s “Challenge and Response” paradigm, it is reform as a response to challenges that has enabled the Chinese civilization to successfully survive and thrive in its historical evolution, and to successfully respond to and resolve various dangers and crises from within and outside. In the broad library of Chinese traditional culture, no matter which school it is: the Legalism, Taoism or Confucianism, ideas and propositions on reform are found easily. First of all, for the pre-Qin Legalists, reforms aimed at prospering the country and benefiting the people was an extremely important theoretical core. The pre-Qin Legalists advocated that “old rules and regulations are not necessarily to be adopted if the country can be strong, and old etiquette and institutions do not necessarily need to be followed if the people can be prosperous.” In its theoretical perspective, “copying no past practice nor the present one” stands right in the center of reform. Reform was an unavoidable path leading to the country’s political survival and political development in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).Taoism also proposed the concept of adjusting to the times. For example: “Ceremonial rites and regulations should be adjusted as time changes”.11 The Huang-Lao School of the early Han Dynasty of the 2nd century BCalso advocated that “lawless ruling sends a country into chaos, stifling law-abiding ruling ignoring necessary reform also sends a country into chaos, a state that is far from keeping a country’s peace and prosperity”.12 Although Confucianism has impression of being conservative and even stubborn, in fact, many ideas of reform and adjustment can be found in Confucianism, such as “old as the Zhou State is, its mission is reform” in The Book of Songs. At the same time, the Book of Changes, an important source classic for both Confucianism and Taoism, stresses in particular that the coping method for distress is change: “Development of things in the extreme leads to change, which points to unstoppable changes that is followed by constant development”. The Confucian thinker Xunzi advocated the concept of “following the wisdom of the current king”, whose essence is reform. It is these ideological sources that have raised the outstanding gene of reform running in Chinese traditional culture.
If the Communist Party of China is the product of Chinese culture, in the veins of the organism of the Communist Party of China must be running the outstanding genes of Chinese culture. After many twists and turns, China, gaining power from these powerful genes and the capabilities they have shaped, has managed to transform the national governance model under the leadership of CPC from revolution and struggle to a democracy and comprehensive rule of law. At the same time, China’s governance model has also constantly evolved with the deepening reform and opening-up. As what has been pointed out by overseas experts studying Chinese issues: “To understand the survival and the ability to develop of the Communist Party of China, we must understand its ability to learn, adapt, and change”.13 This ability to change is classically reflected in the modernization of its national governance.
The path selected to advance the modernization of national governance is to build up good laws and good governance with Chinese characteristics, while comprehensively deepening reforms and enhancing the rule of law are precisely the double driving force needed by modernization of national governance. President Xi Jinping emphasized that, to improve the modernization of national governance is “to adapt the changes of the times, which is to reform the institutional mechanisms, laws and regulations that couldn’t meet the requirements of practical development, and meanwhile, to continuously build new institutional mechanisms, laws and regulations to make the system more scientific and complete form all aspects for the realization of the institutionalization, standardization and procedural management of party, state and social affairs. More attention should be attached to the construction of governance capacity, the awareness to act in line with the system and laws should be strengthened, efforts should be given to hone the ability to be good at using the system and laws to govern the country. Transformation should be put in place to shift the advantages of the system from different aspects into the effectiveness of country management, and improvement is required to be seen in the Party’s scientific, democratic, and law-abiding governance capability”.14 The goal of promoting the modernization of national governance and building good laws and governance with Chinese characteristics, in the top-level design of the central government, should be guaranteed with the state government fully complying with law, driven by comprehensively deepened reform. Reform (and the openness inherent in reform) is the fundamental key to solve all the problems in China. Only by constantly implementing the reform and opening-up policy, can China truly develop. “Reform and opening-up are the key move that determines the destiny of contemporary China, and they are also the key move that determines the ‘two centenarygoals’ and realize the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation”.15 Of course, it must also be an effective move to drive forward the Chinese model of the modernization of national governance and realize good governance.
V. ACommunity with a Shared Future for Human Beings: the Expression of Ideas Centering on the Happy Life of All Human Beings
When turning eyes from China’s national governance to the global governance, we will find that the community with shared future for human beings carries the aspirations and demands of a happy life for all human beings.
The spirit at the core of Chinese traditional culture stresses benevolence, harmony and trust. Politically, it advocates equality, mutual consultation and mutual understanding; when it comes to security, it proposes mutual assistance, co-building and sharing; economically, it supports win-win cooperation and mutual benefits; and culturally, it encourages exchanges and mutual learning and seeking common ground while shelving differences. As the Conveyance of Rites of the Book of Rites suggests, “When the general doctrine is practiced by all, the world is shared by all. People with virtues and capabilities are selected and appointed, who help the society build up credibility and nourish harmony.” While dealing with interpersonal relationships, it should be well remembered that what we do not wish should not be forced onto others either. One’s opinions should not be imposed to others. When dealing with country relations, it also should be well practiced that “if people from afar do not accept your governance, try to convince them with benevolence, righteousness, etiquette and music”, violence and force are not the best choices, and countries with power should not invade those who are weak. Power is not the excuse to crush the weak. Chinese people in ancient times also believed that, “harmony” is the most valuable state, the Doctrine of the Meanof the Book of Rites mentions that “Harmony is the destination for all”.16 All of these values and beliefs of the time, are exactly what a community with a shared future for human beingsembraces.
There are four dimensions to the connotations of a community with a shared future for human beings, laying a solid foundation for the concept of a community with a shared future for human beings to become the core concept of modern global governance: first, the idea of a community with a shared future for human beings with the logical starting point of judgment of the world that countries are unprecedentedly dependent on each other and the globalization is broadening and deepening. It provides prerequisites for the effective advancement of global human rights governance and the modernization of global governance. Second, the concept of a community with a shared future for human beings breaks through the logic of the traditional “Western Centrism” and its “Civilization-Savage” dualism. It advocates the pluralism of the subject of global governance and the diversity of interests claims, which is the connotation of the modernization of global human rights governance.Third, it emphasizes a “shared destiny of human beings” and risk-sharing in the process of globalization. It seeks dialogue, partnership, and win-win cooperation, it rejects confrontation, alliance, and zero-sum games. This is the fundamental requirement to effectively respond to the structural challenges faced by the world’s human rights cause, share the dividends of global governance and development, and realize the comprehensive development of all human beings. Fourth, the concept of a community with a shared future for human beings emphasizes the win-win nature of cooperation and the inclusiveness of development. It shows that the only way of obtaining the dividends of development and governance is through diversified governance subjects, and it is also the only way to ensure the sustainability of the modernization of global governance.17 In a nutshell, as President Xi Jinping emphasized, “the equal participation of nations in decision-making makes an important force for improving global governance”. The remark shows the direction for global human rights governance, and also shows China’s recognition of the full political morality and effectiveness of the global governance featuring “diversified subjects”.
Therefore, adhering to the win-win cooperation, the inclusiveness of development and the diversity of governance as the core concepts of a community with a shared future for human beingsemphasizes that it is the correct way to realize the dividends of global governance and the development for all humanity, and to the continuous pursuit and realization of the happy life of all humanity on the basis of sustainable development of the modernization of global governance.
The pre-Qin Legalists in China elaborated a minimal concept of ideological good governance, which suggests that: “those who are good at governing a country, devote themselves in bringing prosperity to the country instead of their own pockets, apply the methods that enriches the country on the people, adopt ways of ensuring happiness for their children to stabilize national governance, and shift their aspirations of climbing up the social ladder to the searching for righteousness. They will easily find their way to achieve these without much efforts”18. This minimal good governance concept includes such factors as national development, people’s prosperity, unity and stability, benevolent government and righteousness morality, which are exactly the necessary elements to guarantee people a happy life today. Of course, happiness may have various definitions. But happiness is at its peak kindness. As the purpose of being a man, happiness is at the center of all political practices and political sciences.19 How to pursue a happy life based on the right to live and the vision of the right of development under the great changes of the 21st century and how to achieve the sustainable development for the entire human beings is a test for global civilization and human knowledge.
1. Central Compilation and Translation Bureau,Selected Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 1 (A) (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1972), 273.
8. Yu Keping, “Good Governance and Happiness”,Marxism & Reality 2 (2011).
13. Zheng Yongnian,Chinese Model: Experience and Challenges(Beijing: CITIC Press, 2016), 67-68.
16. Cai Hui,“Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture in the Thought of ACommunity with aShared Future for Human Beings”.
18. Shen Dao, Shenzi: Monarch’s Governance(Shanghai:East China Normal University Press, 2010).
19. Aristotle,Nicomachean Ethics, trans.Liao Shenbai (Beijing:The Commercial Press, 2003), 302 and 319.
