【两会】CGTN｜Yang Zhusong：Advantages of China's political system
【编者按】第十三届全国人民代表大会第二次会议和政协第十三届全国委员会第二次会议，将分别于2019年3月5日和3月3日在北京开幕。在“两会”到来之际，应中国国际电视台（CGTN）邀请，清华大学公共管理学院助理教授、国情研究院助理研究员杨竺松从中外比较视角围绕中国政治制度优势发表系列评论。
Editor's note：As China's most important political gathering, the Two Sessions, are drawing near, it might be a good time to look at China's political system from a more nuanced perspective rather than adopt a black- and-white approach. Yang Zhusong, an assistant research fellow at the Institute for Contemporary China Studies, Tsinghua University, presents his arguments on comparative advantages of China's political system.
文丨杨竺松
清华大学公共管理学院助理教授、国情研究院助理研究员
原文载丨CGTN，2019.3.1
By Yang Zhusong | CGTN | 01-Mar-2019
The author is assistant professor of Tsinghua University and assistant research fellow of the Institute for Contemporary China Studies.
Advantages of China's political system:
Points for stability
Two conditions are required for a system to run continuously and effectively. Firstly, it must originate from the specific environment it operates in rather than being a simple replica from elsewhere. Secondly, it should be capable of responding to changes in the external environment in a timely manner and carry out necessary and sensible reforms. This requires a regime to possess adequate self-awareness, to be able to clearly identify where the effectiveness of its own system comes from, and then indicate what can be changed and what cannot be changed in reforming the system.
China has a fairly sound political system.
"China's socialist political system has proved itself feasible, efficient and has vitality because it was developed in the country's social soil,"
Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out, adding that
"The key to developing socialist democracy is expanding rather than weakening our advantages and characteristics."
What are the comparative advantages of this system over American democracy? Here, we will try to find out the answer from different aspects.
First, provision of national public welfare products for the people ensures a good national order. These products and services are essential to promote and protect the well-being of all citizens nationwide. Although many of them are invisible and intangible, everyone needs them all the time. If a political power cannot establish a national order or faces difficulties in maintaining the existing order for a long time, then it's impossible for it to hold its ruling position or make any progress in national governance.
The "stability" of the national order involves all aspects of politics, economy and society, of which political stability is the most fundamental. Political stability is reflected not only in the institutionalization of the country's political activities, but also in the continuity of the ruling ideology, development goals, development plans and major national and international policies.
For developing countries like China, if political instability leads to regime change, economic stability and social stability would also cease to exist. It is not difficult to understand why countries that have gone through "color revolution" inevitably plunged into a chaotic situation marked by soaring prices, shortage of essential supplies, frequent violent conflicts and a precarious state of life and property.
Among the world's major powers and political parties, the Communist Party of China, in particular, cherishes the stability of political order. From a historical point of view, as a result of foreign invasion, China before 1949 experienced long-term political turmoil and frequent wars, which made it difficult to boost its economy and improve people's livelihood, leaving Chinese people with indelible tragic memories.
In reality, the ultra-large population of 1.4 billion means that a stable political order is harder to come by in China. The one-party rule system determines that the mission of establishing and maintaining order can only be undertaken by the Communist Party of China.
From a theoretical point of view, the ability to establish and maintain an effective internal order can be viewed as the "coercive capacity" of a nation, which is the most important of all national capacities. However, a strong and effective state capacity is of a higher priority than the rule of law and democratic accountability in a country's political development process.
From the above three aspects, we can see the underlying logic of China's political system is to ensure the supply of public welfare products to its people. In order to better maintain the national order. On one hand, the Communist Party of China has increased its investment in national defense to build a strong army to handle external provocations, while on another, China continues to build a strong ruling party and improve the Party's ability to rule so as to be competent for the arduous task of governing China as an emerging economic power.
In stark contrast, in many countries in the world today, turmoil and conflicts have become the norm, and a stable political and social order has become elusive.
In North America, although Donald Trump was elected president of the U.S., the election process and a series of policies introduced since he came into power are aggravating tensions and conflicts between different groups of the American society.
In Western Europe, the rise of right-wing populists caused by the arrival of refugees in France, the Netherlands and other countries has had an impact on their political elections. Several countries have also been troubled by the "Yellow Vest" movement and large-scale riots as well as terror threats from the "Islamic State".
There are also many countries where military coups and interference with politics have been commonplace for a long time. Some countries are even torn apart by warlords and have gone through years of civil wars. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria are still mired in bloody terrorism after previous regimes were toppled by the U.S., and people's livelihood has become the biggest casualty of war.
Looking around the world, it's comforting to see China standing out as a stable and safe nation.
中国政治制度的比较优势
——稳定
一个制度体系持续有效地运行，至少需要具备两方面的必要条件：第一是具有内生性，即制度体系是生发于其运行的特定环境的，而不是从别处简单地移植而来。第二是具有调适性，即制度体系应当能够根据外部环境的变化而及时作出反应，进行必要的、科学的改革。这就需要一个政权有着充分的自我认知，能够明辨自身制度体系的有效性从何而来，进而明确在制度改革中，什么可以改、什么不能改。
中国政治制度是一个相当完备的制度体系。正如习近平总书记所指出的，
“中国特色社会主义制度的生命力，就在于这一制度是在中国的社会土壤中生长起来的”。
习近平总书记也指出，发展中国社会主义民主政治，
“关键是要增加和扩大我们的优势和特点”。
这套体系相对于西方民主，尤其是美式民主的比较优势在哪里？我们尝试从多个方面进行归纳。
其中首要的方面，就是为全体人民提供了最重要的国家公益性产品，即稳定的国家秩序，它是在全国范围内赖以促进和保护全体人民福祉所需的公共产品和服务，虽然看不见摸不着，但每一个人都无时无刻不需要它。一个政权如果无法建立起这样一套国家秩序，或者建立起来之后难以长期稳定，那么这个政权的长期执政地位和有效国家治理都无从谈起。
国家秩序的“稳定”，涉及政治、经济、社会的方方面面，其中政治稳定又是最为根本的；政治稳定，既体现在党和国家政治运行的制度化，也体现在党的执政理念、国家发展目标、发展规划以及重大政策的连续性。
对包括中国在内的发展中国家而言，一旦政治失稳导致政权发生颠覆，往往就意味着经济的稳定、社会的稳定都将不复存在。这就不难理解那些发生“颜色革命”的国家，为什么会不可避免地滑向物价飞涨、物资紧缺、暴力冲突频发、生命财产朝不保夕的混乱局面。
在世界大国及主要政党中，中国共产党尤其珍视政治秩序的稳定。从历史来看，1949年以前的中国在外敌入侵背景下，长期政治动荡、战火频仍，导致经济发展和民生改善举步维艰，留给中国人世代难忘的悲惨记忆。
从现实而言，十四亿人口的超大规模决定了稳定的政治秩序在中国这块土地上有着更高的稀缺性，一党执政的政党体制决定了建立和维护秩序的使命只能由中国共产党来承担。
从学理的角度来看，能够建立并维护一套有效的内部秩序，这正是国家能力中的“强制能力”，是各方面的国家能力当中排名No.1的（王绍光、胡鞍钢，1993）；而具备强而有效的国家能力，在一个国家的政治发展进程中比法治、责任政府享有更高的优先级（弗朗西斯·福山，2014）。
这三个方面，构成了中国政治制度向人民提供国家公益性产品的基本逻辑。为了更好地维护国家秩序的稳定，中国共产党一方面增加国防建设投入，打造一支强有力的军队以抗御来自外部的挑动性因素；另一方面持续打造一个强有力的执政党，不断提高自身执政能力，以便长久地胜任治理中国这个新兴超级大国的艰巨任务。
成为鲜明对照的是，在当今世界许多国家，动荡与冲突已成常态，稳定的政治秩序或社会秩序变得可望而不可及。
在北美，尽管特朗普当选美国总统，但选举过程及其上台以来推出的一系列政策正在加剧美国社会撕裂与对立；
在西欧，难民入境在法国、荷兰等国引发的右翼民粹主义势力崛起，对其政治选举带来冲击，多个国家还先后为“伊斯兰国”恐袭阴云、“黄马甲”运动与大规模骚乱所扰。
还有许多国家，长期以来军事政变、军人干政乱象频生，[1]有的国家甚至军阀割据、连年混战，阿富汗、伊拉克、叙利亚等国家在原政权被美国摧毁后，至今仍深陷恐怖主义血腥之中，民生福祉沦为最大牺牲品。
放眼世界，一个稳定而安全的中国的确是“风景这边独好”。
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