(East-West Question) Bai Wengang: Why should democracy be brought back to its place?
China News Agency, Beijing, March 17th: Why should democracy be brought back to its place?
Author Bai Wengang, Professor, School of Government and Public Affairs, Communication University of China
Democracy is one of the core values of modern politics and should undoubtedly be cherished. This is the basic consensus of modern political civilization.
However, to truly value democracy requires an accurate understanding of the nature of democracy and its place in politics.
Otherwise, democracy may be misunderstood and abused, and political development will turn to the opposite of democracy.
As Professor Yang Guangbin, a contemporary Chinese political scientist, said: "Democracy's offside, dislocation, and absence will cause major troubles to national governance and political life, and even lead to bloodshed." "Democracy should return to its place."
So how do you put democracy back in place?
From the perspective of civilization dissemination, that is, the history of human civilization in which civilization interacts with civilization and the specific situation of contemporary China, the key is to get rid of the monopoly of democratic discourse and the value myth that democracy is omnipotent, and to build a system that truly conforms to the true meaning of democracy. Socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics according to China's national conditions and people's needs.
This can be summed up as a "two-break and one-stand" approach to put democracy back in its place.
To achieve "two breaking and one standing" requires full civilized self-confidence.
First of all, it is necessary to break the monopoly of democratic discourse in politics, especially to avoid judging traditional Chinese politics with the narrative of democracy or not.
Democracy is of course one of the core concepts of modern politics, and this cannot and should not be denied.
However, it is worth noting that due to the strong influence of Western discourse hegemony, the research and commentary on Chinese traditional politics are also full of democracy and its related concepts.
Those who criticize Chinese traditional politics will characterize it as autocratic politics; those who defend Chinese traditional politics will try to emphasize that Chinese traditional politics also has democratic genes, hoping to add points to Chinese traditional politics.
But from the perspective of civilization dissemination, whether it is to classify traditional Chinese politics as autocratic, or to praise its democratic elements and even genes, in essence, it is a misinterpretation of traditional Chinese political civilization.
Institutions are products of culture.
From the perspective of the history of human civilization, the geographical environment, political scale, values, surrounding environment and main challenges of the development of Chinese civilization in the eastern part of the Eurasian continent are completely different from those of ancient Greece in the far western corner of the Eurasian continent.
Based on its own cultural concepts, Chinese civilization has established and developed its own political philosophy and political system, and has its own distinct and unique pursuit of political values.
This pursuit is not democratic, but people-oriented.
From the perspective of governance effectiveness, the achievements of traditional Chinese politics are no less than that of ancient Greek city-state politics, and even in many respects, the latter are incomparable.
Since modern times, Chinese traditional political civilization has been judged by whether it is democratic or not. This is not only an offside and abuse of the concept of democracy, but also a serious misinterpretation of Chinese traditional political civilization.
After all, it is a manifestation of civilized inferiority.
Based on its own cultural concepts, Chinese civilization has established and developed its own political philosophy and political system, and has its own distinct and unique pursuit of political values.
The picture shows tourists visiting the Forbidden City in the snow.
Photo by China News Agency Zhu Zhenqiang
Second, it is necessary to dismantle the myth that democracy is omnipotent, to objectively understand the value and function of democracy, and to dispel the romantic idea that "democracy will inevitably lead to good governance".
Democracy inevitably brings good governance, which is a general political cognition formed by the strong spread of Western civilization in modern times.
For a variety of reasons, Western countries are even more wanton myths about the value of democracy.
However, the history of human democratic political practice shows us that we should not have such a romantic idea of democracy, believing that it is a panacea for solving all social problems, and promotes democracy to the altar of omnipotence.
From the perspective of contemporary history alone, whether the collapse of the Soviet Union, the "Arab Spring", the "Orange Revolution" and other events have demonstrated the rounds of national failures, or the Ukrainian tragedy that is unfolding today, they are all unfolding under the banner of democracy. .
But high hopes have been met with great disappointment.
If the failures of these countries are understood as immature and unqualified democracies, then look at the so-called mature Western democracies.
Whether it is the rise of populism in recent years, political polarization, or the performance of Western countries in this new crown epidemic, or the decisions made on major strategies related to world peace and stability, I am afraid that they cannot be said to be successful and perfect.
In March 2021, marches and rallies against discrimination against Asians broke out in many places in the United States.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Guanguan
Therefore, it must be recognized that democracy is an important political value and is necessary; however, democracy is not omnipotent or even flawed.
To build a good democratic politics, we must not only adhere to democratic values, but also recognize the limitations of democracy and place it in an appropriate framework and sequence. Otherwise, misplaced democracy may bring about the tragedy of democratic and political development.
Thirdly, we must build socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics with a high degree of civilization and self-confidence.
We put forward the "two breaks", not to deny democracy, but to more accurately understand the essence of democracy, cherish the value of democracy more sincerely, and better promote the construction of democracy in China and the world. In short, let democracy belong to its own upright.
From the perspective of China's practice, to understand and cherish democracy, the first is to adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China and continue to promote China's democratic construction.
Democracy can take various forms, but fundamentally it is about letting the people be the masters of the country.
The Communist Party of China was born after the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, and is itself the product of modern China's pursuit of democratic progress.
Since its establishment, it has always adhered to a firm people's stand, with the aim of serving the people wholeheartedly, and has continuously promoted democratic ideas in its development process, actively explored a democratic system suitable for China's development, and established the People's Democratic Republic in 1949. The construction of socialist democracy with characteristics has laid the foundation.
After the reform and opening up, he continued to explore the path of democracy in China, and clearly stated that people's democracy is the life of socialism, which has vigorously promoted the construction of democracy in China.
On the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Party, the proposal of people's democracy in the whole process has pushed the construction of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics to a new stage.
These series of efforts fully demonstrate the CPC's unremitting pursuit of democracy, and also promote the continuous development of China's democratic construction.
At the on-site meeting of "Villagers' Direct Evaluation of Village Cadres" in Taizhou, Jiangsu, the participating villagers questioned and made suggestions to the village cadres on relevant issues, and the village cadres responded on the spot.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Jiaming
The second is to draw the experience and wisdom of democratic construction from the history of human civilization with an open mind.
Although the concept of democracy was born in the West, it has become an important value for the progress of human civilization.
We do not copy the democratic model of the West, but we must be open to the successful experience of democracy construction in the West and around the world, actively learn from its useful experience, and continuously contribute to the development of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics.
Learning from the experience of democratic construction in the history of human civilization, it also includes learning from the experience of traditional Chinese politics.
Although this article does not advocate to comment on Chinese traditional politics in terms of whether it is democratic or not, it is undeniable that the rich governance experience in Chinese traditional politics can contribute to the construction of democracy in China today through creative transformation and innovative development.
We should cherish our precious traditional cultural resources even more.
The third is to have the confidence to make China's unique contribution to the building of world democracy.
Civilizations are wonderful because of mutual learning.
The concept of democracy was born in the West, and China's democratic construction started from learning from the West.
However, due to different historical cultures and traditions, once democracy is implemented in China and integrated with Chinese culture, a new and richer model will be created.
As China develops, this new model is bound to have beneficial effects on the rest of the world.
This is not only the law of civilization dissemination, but also the value of civilization dissemination.
Beijing citizens watched the live broadcast of the National Two Sessions on large outdoor screens.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong
To sum up, democracy is the core value of modern politics. In order to better cherish and build democracy, we must objectively understand the value of democracy, its development, and its laws from the perspective of civilized dissemination. Democracy in place.
Only in this way can democracy be better realized and promoted, so that democracy can benefit human development.
In this historical process, China has the confidence to make its own unique contribution.
(over)
About the Author:
Bai Wengang, doctor of history, professor, doctoral supervisor, director of the Political Communication Department of the School of Government and Public Affairs, Communication University of China, Deputy Director of the Institute of Political Communication, Communication University of China.
Mainly engaged in political communication, civilization communication research.
Representative achievements include "Research on Political Communication in Ancient China", "Contingency and Dilemma: Ideological Control in the New Deal Period in the Late Qing Dynasty", "Audience Motivation and Communication Effects in the Communication of Civilization" and so on.