Democracy in China

The current politics of China is called a system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). This system had been forming and developing in the years of the Chinese revolution, the construction of a modern Chinese state, and the implementation of social reforms. A multi-party system is the basis of Chinese politics and social realities. Moreover, it is a major part of the political system of Chinese socialist democracy. However, the role of democratic powers in terms of national policy in China remains a controversial issue due to their subordinate position to the Communist Party and transformed characteristics that introduce certain Chinese model of democracy. Therefore, there is a necessity to identify the main characteristics of Chinese democracy and degree of its influence on public life in comparison to the Communist party in order to define whether the democratic powers are real or abstract forces of Chinese policy. According to the political system, China is formally a multi-party state that determines the position, function, and relationship of parties participating in the political life of the country. This system also has an effect on the model of the political activities of public forces. The main document that regulates the party system adopted after the 17th Party Congress states that Chine is going to establish its unique political system and own way of fulfilling the democracy. The policy of multi-party cooperation means that there is only one power party, for example, Communist Party of China. However, all other parties (8 parties) are able to participate in the state affairs only if they accept its leadership. Another remarkable feature of the Chinese political system shows that the leadership of the CPC holds a political consultation that gives the possibility to the wide range of mass organizations, parties, and other public representatives to take part in state affairs which reflection the people’s democracy. In general, the democratic parties are the political unities every of which represents a certain part of the socialist workers and patriots of the country. The main context of cooperation and joint political work of the CPC and democratic parties is to organize a system of consultations between the CPC and the democratic parties to develop collaboration in the government. Their relations are established to promote the consultation and unity between the CPC, democratic parties, and non-party representatives as a part of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The main functions and values of a multi-party cooperation system in China are the following. The first one is the expression of interest as the Chinese political system covers the basic democratic forces and controls the representatives of certain social groups of Chinese society. This function can effectively reflect the expectations of various social communities expanding the expression of the public interest channel, thereby supporting the harmony and stability in the society. The second one is the participation in the political life as it ensures the inclusion of different social groups in the civic aspects of the country, strengthening and expanding the base of the people’s democratic state power. The third one is a social solidarity that helps to build socialism with Chinese characteristics, thereby achieving political solidarity and encouraging the rational allocation of the political resources. This function influences the masses and leads the activity of the society to the path of modernization. The last function controls the democratic character. This policy reflects a political direction of cooperation between the CPC and other democratic parties. However, despite such a wide range of democratic characteristics of the general policy in China, the democratic parties conduct little in terms of the state affairs. According to the first article of the constitution adopted in 1982, “The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship” while the second article states that all power in the PRC belongs to the people. Though, in the relation between the CPC and democratic parties, the leading position is occupied by the former forces. It initiates many struggles for the introduction of the basic democratic principles into the state policy. Nowadays, the democracy keeps deteriorating as press and Internet censorship together with other forms of political repressions are present in the multi-party system. These conditions determine the inferior position of the democratic parties to the Communist Party of China. In the early twentieth century, the representatives of the bourgeois class led by Sun Yat-sen made a democratic revolution and began to employ the idea of multi-party parliamentary in the country. From 1927 until 1949, the political power headed by Chiang Kai-shek listened to the wishes of ordinary people and established the development of political democracy. However, after having constructed a one-party totalitarian state regime, he was defeated by Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communist force in China who unlike his predecessor followed the values that were familiar to the peasants and workers from whom he gained a wide support. During the struggle for the new democratic revolution, the leadership of the CPC among all the political and revolutionary forces of China was stated. The Democratic Party of China and non-partisan part of the Chinese people consciously and formally had recognized the leading role of the CPC. While discussing the nature of Chinese democracy in the relation to the core values of democracy in general, Professor Yu Keping points that the relevance of Democratic features is determined by certain cultural, political, and economical issues of the certain country. Therefore, they are unique and differ in every country. Consequently, Chinese democratic policy can be considered as the separate type of democracy embodied by the Chinese model that highlights the national peculiarities of the country. Deng Xioping is the first who underlined the significance of the unique model of democracy in China compared to the Western one, he explains his objection by the deep social stratification and inequality provided by the balance of tree power. Another claim against the absence of the clear democracy is that China is not ready for it suffering from the Taiwan economic crisis. Therefore, it is possible to consider the formation of China model of democracy that implies four characteristics. The first characteristic is the recognition of people’s sovereignty that includes people power and relates to the Western type of democracy. The second one belongs to the representation model of democracy opposite to the Western delegation that makes representatives accountable for the voters. The third one is the presence of democratic principles for the CPC in the People’s Republic of China. The last refers to the various forms of democracy for Chinese notions, especially for people of a common origin. It is obvious that all these characteristics show the presence of certain features of democracy rather than a total control of the CPC. The dominant role of the CPC with the implications of democratic values has to be considered as a necessary step for state development, but not its decline. According to the political system of China, there is one ruling party, the Communist Party of China, which cooperates with other parties that represent the democratic forces of the state. However, the real situation in the country shows that democracy in China has its own characteristics which differ from the Western model of democracy. Although the democratic model of China established by the CPC raises many questions, due to the democratic character of the CPC policy, it cannot be defined as a clear communist model. Therefore, Chinese democracy implies unique characteristics that serve as a supportive tool for the CPC in terms of collaborating people and providing them with a defined degree of freedom. Article was written and published by the professional writer from https://papers-land.com/ - Lola Nickson