Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.9, 2019

An Analysis of the Party-Government Structure and Functional Mechanism of Contemporary Chinese Governance

(Abstract)

Wang Puqu and Tang Bin

One important reason of China’s remarkably fruitful economic and social development is the effective operation of the party-government structure with Chinese characteristics. Compared with the governance structure relying on Weber-style hierarchy in Western countries, the institutional mechanism of China’s national governance has its unique structure and functions: in terms of the constitution of administrative power, it is presented as a centralized and unified party-government structure formed by the ruling party through its political leadership, in profoundly shaping and integrating the government system with Chinese characteristics at the organizational and ideological levels. This structure has political authority and pioneering, as well as administrative normativity and hierarchy. With respect to the mechanism of function realization, contemporary Chinese governance implements the dialectical and unified operation principle of activistic governance and hierarchical governance, “activism” and “institutionalism,” substantive justice and procedural justice, resulting in a unique mechanism of function operation, and has thus realized the organic combination of governance’s dominance and foundation, strategic and routine, performance legitimacy and procedural legitimacy. In the practice of governance, the “flexibility” of governance and functional mechanism of the party-government structure underlie the superiority of national governance. In the historic process of deepening the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, the practice of reform and development requires a balanced coordination of political leadership and administrative norms. To this end, under the premise of strengthening the party’s overall centralized and unified leadership, the rule of law should be taken as the basic strategy, and the political and administrative coordination and benign interaction of the party-government structure and its functional mechanisms should be continuously improved.