Normative Principles of China’s Political-Legal System

Abstract

As a system that is symbolic of contemporary China, the politicallegal system refers to the governance structure that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), law-enforcement and judicial agencies and various governance subjects jointly promote a peaceful China initiative and build a China under the rule of law. The historical evolution from the classical rites-law tradition to the modern politicallegal system reflects the consistent political focus and ideological exploration of China’s politicians and thinkers about the national rise and fall. The basic structure of the political-legal system can be divided into three principal groups of relationships, namely, the relationships between various law-enforcement and judicial agencies, the relationships between law-enforcement and judicial agencies and external bodies, and the relationships between the CPC and law-enforcement and judicial agencies. The normative principles concerning these three principal groups of relationships constitute the basic rules for the institutional design and practical operation of the political-legal system. The normative principles of the first group of relationships relate to self-integration, division of responsibilities, mutual cooperation and mutual restraint. The normative principles of the second group of relationships involve prioritizing social autonomy, primary-level governance and front-end governance. The normative principles of the third group of relationships are concerned with macro-leadership, centralized leadership and leadership under the rule of law. The analysis of these three sets of normative principles shows that China’s political-legal system not only follows the universal law and common mechanism of modern national governance, but also accumulates the local experience and unique wisdom of China’s governance.

Keywords

political-legal, rites-law, the rule of law, political-legal system, China’s governance

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