在中国社会，非政府组织的全面成长与中国从计划经济转型到市场经济密切相关。所以，中国共产党与非政府组织的关系，不是一党领导的国家中政党与非政府组织的简单关系，而是转型国家不同社会建构体系之间的紧张关系。中国共产党是组织化社会的社会建构体系的核心，非政府组织是社会组织化的社会建构体系的主体力量。所以，非政府组织的全面成长对中国共产党具有内在的挑战性。基于不同的社会建构体系，中国共产党接受了非政府组织的发展，但要保障其领导地位，就必须在不同的社会建构体系中协调好与非政府组织之间的关系。为此，中国共产党力图通过全面推进中国的社会建设来重新定位其在社会中的地位与功能，以实现政党主导与社会发展之间的和谐关系。
The development of Chinese society has seen several transformations of the state and society,each accompanied by a new system of social construction.In 1949,following the founding of the People's Republic of China(PRC),the Communist Party of China (CPC)installed a system of social construction centering on party organizations,namely, the system of social construction of an organized society.Following China's reform and opening up,Chinese society has begun to shift from a planned economy to a market economy society.From this has arisen a new system of social construction,one that has been re-organized with individualized society as the core,namely,a system of social construction of societal organization.Such a system stimulates the vigorous development of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).Hence,in present-day China,the relationship between the CPC and NGOs is in appearance the relationship between a political party and societal organizations–an expression of the relationship between the state and society.In fact,however,it is the relationship between the two different systems of social construction that coexist in current Chinese society.Therefore,what lies behind it is a change in the logic of nation-building and a political party's self-adaptation and development in the course of this change.This article tries to discuss from this angle the relationship between the CPC and the NGOs.
I.The Party and Organized Society:the Hollowing out of NGOs
China's modernization initiatives began at the end of the 19th century.The first endeavors,aiming at the reform of the traditional imperial system from the inside,were represented by the 1898 Reform Movement and the administrative reforms at the end of the Qing Dynasty,both of which ended in failure.This reform collapsed completely with the outbreak of the Chinese Revolution of 1911.After the Revolution,China began aim ing at democracy and republicanism on the ruins of the Qing empire.China's modern nation-building was not the melding of a modern state system and the traditional imperial system,but the wholesale construction of a modern state system.China's historical logic determined that the organizationof political parties and party members'mobilization of society to build a modern nation would be the basic road China would take tomodernization.Consequently,the political party constitutes the force at the heart of China's national construction.Nevertheless,the logic of national construction differed among political parties.
The CPC aimed to establish a socialist country in China.The central force of such a new type of nation was the CPC,its social foundation was the liberated workers and peasants,and its economic foundation was socialist public ownership.Naturally,such national construction had to take social revolution as its prerequisite and motive force. By its nature,social revolution involves completely changing existing economic,social and cultural structures.Consequently,the CPC took the restructuring of Chinese society as the starting point of its national construction drive,making the organized working class the central force that controlled both the means of production and state power,to realize at the same time its complete emancipation and the reconstruction and integration of Chinese society.Therefore,the CPC, using its organizations(such as party branches)as the essential means and its organizational network as a system and utilizing collectivization-oriented movements of various kinds,undertook the organizational remolding of Chinese society,rapidly turning it from one as loose as sand to a highly organized one.1 With the construction of this kind of organized society,the emancipation of individuals was replaced by the liberation of classes;the social existence of individuals was replaced by their organized existence; and organizations'social characteristics were replaced by party characteristics.Society became organized while individuals and their organizations lost their autonomy.Various sorts of NGOs left over from the Republic of China period either dissolved voluntarily or were banned or transformed;only a few survived.Statistics show there were only 44 nationwide social organizations in the 1950s and less than 100 in the 1960s,while local social organizations numbered only around 6,000 in that decade. What's more,even this pitiably small number3 existed as outlying forces of the CPC.
Thus it can be seen that using party organizations as the core force to conduct the construction of an organized society not only basically consumed NGOs'social space but also basically reduced surviving bodies of a non-governmental nature to a nominal existence.A political party constructed the society,making the whole society party political.In the course of this party political structuring,surviving social organizations were thoroughly hollowed out.This can be seen in the following two respects:first,like the political party,NGOs became organizational bodies of a highly administrative and hierarchic nature.Meanwhile,organization managers did not come from society,but from the political party or government.As a result,NGOs were transformed into political party or government-run institutions.And second,NGOs'functions were either reduced or replaced by the political party and government.
The underlying cause of this dramatic shrinking of Chinese NGOs after 1949 was the system of social construction of an organized society where the political partyplayed a central role.Under such a system, the entire society was totally dissolved andconsumed by institutional organizations simultaneously having political,economic, social and cultural functions,while individuals were entirely incorporated by such organizations into various types of collective administrative institutions.Once individual and social autonomy were lost,NGOs were unable to escape the fate of becoming mere figureheads.
II.Societal Organization and Political
Party:the Challenge of the Organizational Revolution
Since the founding of the PRC,the mode of construction of Chinese society has undergone two dramatic shifts,successively introducing two different systems of social construction.The shift in the mode of social construction was prompted by the transformation of the economic system.Under the traditional planned economy system,China had an organized social construction mode. However,as the traditional system of the planned economy gives way to the system of a socialist market economy and as the market economy develops on all fronts,society has gradually begun to free itself from government administrative control and planned arrangements,while individuals,too, have begun to gain more and more independence from their original work unit(dan wei) organizations.If we say that in Chinese society,the working class as a class gained emancipation in 1949,then after reform and opening up,they gained emancipation as individuals,and a system of social construction of societal organization came into being.
The two systems for the construction of society–societal organization and the organized society–are entirely different. Under the latter,society and the nation were constructed on the basis of the political party and its organizational network to bring about social and national integration.Under the former,however,social structuring and national integration are achieved on the basis of the essential factors that a modern society should itself possess.Under these two different systems of social construction,the political party's position and role are totally different.Under the system of social construction of an organized society,the political party functions as the axis of society, whereas under the system of social construction of societal organization the political party maintain its central leading position in society, but is no longer the axis of social construction.However,it is essential to point out that in present-day Chinese society,the emergence of a new system of social construction does not necessarily mean the extinction of the traditional one.As a matter of fact, the two systems coexist in present Chinese society.The characteristics of Chinese society determine that this coexistence will co nti nue for a lon g t ime to come. Consequently,this raises a very practical problem for the ruling CPC:how to make full use of the advantages each system of social construction possesses and seek the social and organizational resources needed for government.This poses an important test of the ruling party's administrative capability at this new stage.
An organizational revolution emerged rapidly following the introduction of the socialist market economy.This revolution first manifested itself in the explosive growth of the social organizations–NGOs of various kinds.Secondly,this organizational revolution in China has been incorporated into the worldwide"revolution of association forming"that arose silently at the end of the 1980s, and has become a part of it.4 And finally, this revolution was soon accommodated by the political party and the government,and hence did not die on the vine.As far as the course of development of associations is concerned, the period between 1996 and 2001 saw adrastic drop in the number of registered NGOs,but this declining trend turned around in 2003.The immediate cause of this drop was that the government,in accordance with the law on the management and registration of social organizations,took action to re-register and examine them.Thus we can see that on the whole the Chinese government adopts an accommodating attitude towards the development of social organizations.
Nevertheless,for the governing CPC, the challenges created by the"revolution of association forming"are quite direct,as reflected in the following three main aspects.
First of all,the growth of NGOs infringes on much of the political party's traditional space.Under the original construction of society,the party occupied almost the entire social space.With the rapid development of new social organizations,a number of organizations have appeared over which the party is unable to exercise direct control.NGOs,which make up a considerable proportion of all social organizations, have taken up the Political party's traditional organizational space,thereby affecting the latter's social foundation.
Secondly,in some spheres the NGOs have taken over the political party's functions.In places where the party fails to serve the society,NGOs provide services that intentionally or unintentionally substitute for the functions originally performed by the party.Such substitution has to some degree contributed to the party's loss of its social resources. Thirdly,the tension between the NGOs and the party affects the latter's ability to integrate society.The political party's instinctive response to the NGOs'development is to control them.Such control must cause tension between the NGOs and the party.It is concretely expressed in the fact that the party finds it difficult to enter NGOs.Theoretically,it is not a difficult matter for a political party to enter an NGO.Provided some of its members enter an NGO,the party will exist and develop there.The current problem,however,is that the party has not consciously sent its members into NGOs; instead,it simply intends to use its political dominance to control the NGOs.On the other hand,party members in NGOs have also failed to deliberately develop their role as party members.As party organizations cannot play a role within the NGOs,control pressures are inevitably imposed upon the NGOs from without,thus creating tension between the two sides.Such tension benefits neither the exercise of the party's functions,nor the NGOs'survival and development.
Although these challenges are specific, their political significance is far-reaching.In fact,they already constitute a challenge by the continuously growing power of society to the power of the political party.To deal with these challenges,the party's sole option is to reform itself and on this basis harmonize relations between the party and the NGOs in an endeavor to make NGOs into coordinated and cooperative partners and a force in social governance.
III.The Political Party and the NGOs:A Relationship Structure in the Making
Faced with the NGOs'vigorous development,the first response of the CPC was to control them.In November 1984,the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued a notice strictly restraining the establishment of nationwide organizations.It explicitly stated that the governments at all levels should implement this notice prior to the formulation and promulgation of the law on the formation of associations.Though this action effectively prevented an unchecked expansion of nationwide privately run organizations,it was unable to check the growth of local organizations of various kinds.Hence,the CPC took a second action in response regulating social organizations. It required all social organizations to register once again in an attempt to incorporate them into unified government administration.In October 1989,the State Council nullified "The Temporary Measures for the Registration of Social Organizations"issued in October 1950 and in its stead promulgated the "Regulations Regarding the Registration and Management of Social Organizations."After nearly 10 years of trial implementation,an amended version was finalized and announced in October 1998.In its"General Principles"the term"social organization"is given a very explicit definition,stressing its voluntary,organizational,non-profit and non- governmental nature.It also makes clear that those popular organizations that belong to Chinese People's Political Consultative Conerence are excluded from the registration requirements stipulated in the regulations. These organizations include the trade unions, the women's federations,the Communist Youth League,etc..As a result,the new law solves the problem of whether these organizations,too,need to register in order to obtain legitimacy.With the resolution of this problem,the question of whether political parties in China need to go through the registration procedures has been resolved to a certain degree,because the three major organizations–the trade unions,the women's federations and the Communist Youth League are actually both social organizations and outlying organizations of the CPC.The Youth League in particular is a quasi-party organization.
The CPC's third response was to strengthen its leadership and direction of NGOs through its organizational forces in an attempt to guarantee its political influence over these groups.To achieve this goal,the CPC has chosen the method it is most accustomed to and the one most suited to its tradition of organizational work–setting up party branches within various social organizations.In February 1998,the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly issued a notice regarding issues in setting up party organizations in NGOs.The notice stipulates that if the permanent office staff of any social organization approved by the social organization registration administration includes three or more full party members, it is required to set up a grass-roots party organization.The application must be submitted for examination and approval to the party organization of its superior administrative authorities or of the institution to which it is affiliated.Setting up a party organization should be taken into consideration as early as the preparatory stage of establishing the social organization.The notice also requires that these authorities and institutions should be fully aware of the social organizations in their charge,and help those that should have set up a party branch to do so as soon as possible.Regrettably,however, in actual practice this work has not been handled properly.The overwhelming majority of NGOs have failed to set up party branches.What's more,the party organizations of the responsible authorities have paid little attention to party-building work in the NGOs.To remedy this situation,the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee issued"Proposals on Strengthening Party-Building Work in Social Organizations"in July 2000.The document stresses that strengthening party-building work in the NGOs will help expand the coverage,influence and penetration of party work in the new situation.
The CPC's fourth response to the development of social organizations was to integrate them and exploit their functions.The strategic foundation of this response was the dramatic shift in the CPC's social construction strategy.The CPC's 16th National Congress places social development among the strategic tasks of national construction,thus initiating a new nation-building framework integrating political,economic,cultural and social construction.Within such a strategic and action framework,it is only natural that NGOs constitute a very important strategic and motive force.In 2005,when dealing with the building of a harmonious society,CPC Chairman Hu Jintao explicitly emphasized that the CPC must consider and study how the positive roles of urban and rural grass-roots self-governing organizations,mass bodies, social organizations,trade associations,intermediary organizations,etc.,can be brought into play under its leadership,so as to form a combined force for social management. It can thus be seen that in leading social construction,the CPC definitely sees NGOs as an essential force in the governance of society that the Party must cooperate with and bring fully into play.
The CPC's four responses actually constitute its basic action framework for dealing with the NGO issue.From this framework we can see that the CPC has accepted the reality of the coexistence of the two major social constructions in Chinese society,and begun to exploit the structural advantages of both systems to cope with the development of NGOs.On the whole,however,the CPC's experience and institutional arrangements for handling the NGO issue are still limited.This is reflected in the following two aspects. First,the relations between party organizations and the NGOs.Though the CPC Central Committee has time and again emphasized the setting up of party organizations within registered social organizations,the actual results are comparatively unsatisfactory.For instance,in a city with more than 150 social organizations and intermediary organizations,only nine had set up Party organizations as of 2004,accounting for 5.88%of the total.6 This phenomenon has a certain universality.It illustrates that in circumstance where social organizations are developing vigorously,how the Party leads and guides them through its own leadership system and organizational network is still an unresolved problem.How well this problem is handled has a direct impact on the political environment of the NGOs'existence and development.The second problem lies in the Party's institutional arrangements for the development of NGOs.The CPC has reiterated with increasing clarity that the NGOs are an important force propelling China's ec onom ic and soc ial dev elo pmen t. Regrettably,however,faced with NGOs' vigorous growth the Party and the government have still not extricated themselves from a passive position,and have so far failed to become a core force that is able both to accommodate and to guide and control the NGOs.
The afore-mentioned two issues in some degree indicate that though the CPC has adopted a strategic framework for accommodating,integrating and exploiting the NGOs' force,the rational structure of its relationship with the NGOs has yet to be fully defined.The formation of such a relationship depends in a considerable degree on the Party's own reform and progress,on the enhancement of its capacity to lead the nation and society,and on the improvement of its strategies and policies.
*Lin Shangli graduated from Fudan University where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Law.He now teaches at Fudan University's School of International Relations and Public Affairs,and is mainly engaged in the study of political theories and Chinese politics.He has worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Georgia in the US,Japan's Keio University and Germany's University of Munich. His current research centers on three fields:China's political development,Chinese political parties and China's government reforms.His major works include Studies on Political Patterns in Contemporary China(Tianjin:Tianjin People's Publishing House,2000), Intra-Party Democracy(Shanghai:Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press,2002),and Institution Building and National Growth(Tianjin:Tianjin People's Publishing House,2005).His main articles include"Consultative Politics:A Political Reflection on the Development of Democratic Politics in China".
Published by SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CHINA (Summer2007).
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
