观察家 | 中国的全过程人民民主
I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn and here's what I'm watching: What China calls its "Whole-Process People's Democracy" - a mysterious phrase to Westerners, who assume that China's political system, which has neither multiple parties nor general elections, can be in no way democratic.
我是罗伯特•劳伦斯•库恩, 以下是我正在关注的：中国的“全过程人民民主”在西方人看来有些费解，他们认为中国的政治制度既不是所谓“多党制”也没有大选，因此无民主可言。
Yet, when President Xi Jinping explains China's great rejuvenation, he uses six aspirational adjectives, one of which is "democratic". He calls democracy "a shared value of humanity and a key tenet upheld by the Party and the Chinese people" - to be used, he says, “to solve the problems that the people want to solve.”
然而，习近平主席在阐述中华民族的伟大复兴时，使用了六个词来形容他的宏愿，其中之一就是“民主” 。他称民主是“全人类的共同价值，是中国共产党和中国人民始终不渝坚持的重要理念” 。他指出民主要用来“解决人民需要解决的问题”。
Party theorists describe Whole-Process People's Democracy as a full-chain, omni-directional, and full-covered democracy, embedding process democracy and outcome democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, and direct and indirect democracy. They stress that people's democracy and the will of the state are united.
党的理论家将全过程人民民主定义为全链条、全方位、全覆盖的民主，实现了过程民主和成果民主、程序民主和实质民主、直接民主和间接民主相统一。他们强调人民民主和国家意志是相统一的。
That's the theory, but what's the practice?
这是理论，但实践是如何开展的呢？
The Party's call is to expand the orderly political participation of the people, strengthen the protection of human rights and the rule of law, and ensure that the people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms in accordance with the law. This includes the people exercising the right to vote and democratically elect representatives to the people's congresses, and ensuring that the people know, participate, express, and supervise the work of the people's congresses - still under the leadership of the Party, of course.
根据党的号召，不断扩大人民有序政治参与，加强人权法治保障，确保人民依法享有广泛权利和自由。这包括人民依法行使选举权，民主选举产生人大代表，保证人民的知情权、 参与权、 表达权、 监督权落实到人大工作各方面各环节全过程。当然， 这一切要在党的领导下进行。
Democracy in the Party-led system involves absorbing public opinion via feedback mechanisms, such as polling to discern what people think, for example about proposed new policies – a process that the Party calls "pooling people's wisdom."
党领导的人民民主制度包括通过反馈机制听取公众意见。例如通过民意调查了解民众的想法，征求民众对拟议新政策的看法。党称这一过程为“集思广益”。
So, even though there are no elections in the Western sense, there is a good deal of engagement with different constituencies. Another example is when officials are nominated to new positions, there is a period of time for candid feedback from colleagues and subordinates as well as from superiors.
因此，即使没有西方式的选举，也能收到代表不同群体的大量反馈。再举个例子，当官员被提名到新职位时， 通常会有一段公示时间，听取同事，下属和上级的反馈。
In enhancing Whole-Process People's Democracy, President Xi highlights upholding and improving the people's congress system, stressing properly and effectively exercising their power of oversight.
在推进全过程人民民主建设方面，习主席强调坚持和完善人民代表大会制度，强调正确和有效地行使监督权。
Moreover, the work reports of Party leadership at Party congresses every five years, and the work reports of the government at the National People's Congress every year, reflect a great deal of input and suggestion from all relevant officials, experts and constituencies. These work reports are not just what top leadership puts forth for form and ceremony. No - these axial documents are drafted by diverse teams, with comments and opinions solicited from numerous officials and experts; the documents circulate iteratively many times during the six to eight months or more of the drafting period.
此外，党的领导人每5年会在中国共产党全国代表大会上作报告，政府每年也会在全国人民代表大会上作报告。这些报告听取了大量相关官员，专家和民众的意见和建议。这些工作报告并不仅仅是高层领导为了形式和流程编写的，而是由不同的小组起草并向许多官员和专家征求反馈意见。在起草期的6至8个月，甚至更长时间内，这些文件会被反复传阅修改。
President Xi stresses the important role of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the development of deliberative and consultative democracy; even though the CPPCC has no formal power, it has the growing social powers of expertise, influence and public pressure.
习主席强调要坚持发挥人民政协在发展协商民主中的重要作用。尽管政协不是权力机构，但它有日益增长的专业性，影响力和舆论引导力。
My friends in China ask, why does the world misunderstand the Party? The problem, I argue, is partly semantics — because the English word "party" connotes, in democratic political systems, a political party that competes in free and open multi-party elections, such that when a ruling party does not compete in free and open multi-party elections, that political system is deemed not democratic.
我的中国朋友们会问为什么外界对中国共产党有误解。我认为部分原因出在语义表述上。因为英文中的“党”在西方民主政治体系中指的是在自由公开的多党选举中参与竞争的政党。如果执政党没有参加这类选举，这种政治制度就被认为不具有民主性。
This portrait mispaints the Chinese system, which is founded on a different principle, where the Party is the ruling organization, not a competing political party — it is a dedicated elite from all sectors of society, consisting of less than 7 percent of the population but tasked to represent 100 percent of the population.
这种理解就会造成对中国制度的误解。中国的制度基于不同的原则。中国共产党是执政党，但不是一个竞争性政党。它由来自社会各阶层的精英组成，这些人不到全部人口的7%，但以代表全体人民的利益为己任。
Thus, the Party, as the ruling organization, is not the equivalent of a ruling political party in Western systems, where political parties represent only a certain group of voters and are time-bounded by election cycles. For this reason, the Chinese Party, the CPC, has a higher and broader obligation to enhance the living standards and personal well-being of all Chinese citizens. This includes reforms, rule of law, transparency in government, public participation in governance, increasing democracy, and various freedoms (including expression), and human rights. These are real challenges.
因此，中国共产党作为执政党，并不简单地等同于西方体制中的执政党。西方体制中的政党只代表特定选民的利益，并受限于选举周期。为此，中国共产党更有责任和义务提高全体民众的生活水平和福祉。包括改革、法治、政府透明度、公众参与治理、增进民主，包括言论自由在内的各种自由权以及人权。这些都是摆在中国共产党面前的实际挑战。
Looking ahead, given that democracy is aspirational as part of China's mid-century goals, what kinds of system improvements need be made? What are the boundaries for improvements? What is the tolerance for improvements?
展望未来，民主是中国“两个一百年”奋斗目标的一部分，确实令人心驰神往。
那么需要如何完善制度？完善到什么程度？对制度完善的容忍度是多少？
I'm keeping Watch. I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn
我在持续观察，我是罗伯特•劳伦斯•库恩。