Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2014

 

An Outline for the Construction of a Society Based on the Rule of Law

(Abstract)

 

Jiang Bixin and Wang Hongxia

 

A society based on the rule of law is an important component of the integrated construction of a China based on the rule of law. It is related to but different from the categories of a state based on the rule of law, management of society based on the rule of law, and a social rule of law state. Building a society based on the rule of law is the very foundation of the construction of the rule of law and an effective means of breaking through bottlenecks in the rule of law. It represents the rethinking of a society based on relationships and the cultivation and sublation of public rationality, and helps bring together the social consensus of transitional China. A society based on the rule of law has two major characteristics: the coherence of the rule of law and the joint governance of society. Construction of such a society must take public power as the dominant factor and must achieve a society based on the rule of law by socializing the rule of law. At present, China’s construction of the rule of law has entered a new stage. We have to deal with general and particular shortcomings that arise as the rule of law is deepened, including a lack of balance, proportion and credibility and a loss of weight. A rule of law development view that centers on a society based on the rule of law accords with the general rules of the maturing of the rule of law and the present circumstances of Chinese society.