Monday, May 29, 2023

Remarks on "'Whole Process People's Democracy' [全过程人民民主] as Applied Constitutionalism"; City University of Hong Kong 7 June 2023





Guobin Zhou and the folks at City University of Hong Kong have been kind enough to organize an event at which I will present some ideas about the evolving clusters of theory and practice that have now come to be called whole process people's democracy (全过程人民民主). The event is enriched by the engagement of the remarkable Bjorn Ahl (Cologne) and Guobin Zhu (朱國斌) CUHK) as discussants.

The thrust of the remarks may be summarized this way:

 Chinese Socialist (Marxist-Leninist) democracy has acquired a richer theoretical foundation in the last decade. This presentation considers the emerging theory of whole process people's democratic democracy (全过程人民民主) from the perspective of the development of Chinese constitutionalism and from a comparative perspective. The presentation will explore this emerging constitutional perspective from the core of the central challenge of democratic states--the issue of representation and of connection between the people and their political and administrative organs. In Chinese constitutional language this touches on the refinement of the relationship between the "mass line" and the "people's democratic dictatorship" concepts. The approach advances that relationship through the coordination of collective organizations under the leadership of the vanguard party. The consequences of this approach are then illustrated with a comparison to Cuban Marxist-Leninism and liberal democratic theory and practice.

What makes  the issue of democratic structuring even more interesting than its contrast with liberal democratic approaches and principles, is its sometimes considerable divergence from Marxist-Leninist practices elsewhere.  Even as the Chinese vanguard is ordering its democratic theory around the fundamental insight of the critical role of collectivization as a basis for democratic practice (under the guidance of the vanguard), other Marxist Leninist spaces--particularly Cuba (before its current economic crises) have taken democratic application in another direction--more informal consultation and a process of popular referendum around key changes. Those differences pose challenges for the way in which all systems approach and consider the importance of voting and consultative engagement. Particularly with respect to voting, the differences are becoming manifestly more divergent and at the same time more challenging. In liberal democracy the obsession with voting integrity shifts focus away from engagement in governmental operation--essentially privatizing consultation through ecologies of  compliance and civil society. In Cuban Marxist-Leninism voting serves as an endorsement.  The core issue then revolves around the quality of that endorsement. The issue of voting revolves not around winning a vote but about the responsibility of the vanguard to tale seriously and respond to significant withholding of endorsement--either of their proffered candidates or in referendum. In Chinese Marxist-Leninism, the same applies, perhaps, to the NCP system, but the emphasis changes with respect to political consultation  as it moves from voting to coordination of society organized comprehensively within collective organs. 

More information will be available soon for registration and attendance.

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