The Principle-Based Connotation of “Promoting Better Compatibility between National Governance and Social Development”

[Study and Implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era]

【学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想】

The “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese-Path Modernization” (hereinafter referred to as the “Decision”), reviewed and approved at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, explicitly states in discussing the guiding ideology for further deepening reform comprehensively: “promote better compatibility between relations of production and productive forces, between the superstructure and the economic base, and between national governance and social development, so as to provide strong impetus and institutional guarantees for Chinese-path modernization.” On the basis of promoting better compatibility between relations of production and productive forces and between the superstructure and the economic base, the new thesis and new requirement of “promoting better compatibility between national governance and social development” reflects the CPC’s epochal development of the fundamental principles of historical materialism under the problem orientation of further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese-path modernization. Clarifying its principle-based connotation can provide innovative perspectives for our scientific understanding of the contradictions and dynamic systems of social development, and offer worldview and methodology guidance for fully, accurately, and comprehensively implementing the new development philosophy and adhering to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability.

党的二十届三中全会审议通过的《中共中央关于进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的决定》（以下简称《决定》）在论述进一步全面深化改革的指导思想时明确提出，“推动生产关系和生产力、上层建筑和经济基础、国家治理和社会发展更好相适应，为中国式现代化提供强大动力和制度保障”。在推动生产关系和生产力、上层建筑和经济基础更好相适应的基础上，提出“推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应”这一新论断新要求，体现了中国共产党在进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的问题导向下对历史唯物主义基本原理的时代化发展。阐明其原理性内涵，能够为我们科学认识社会发展的矛盾和动力体系提供创新视野，为完整准确全面贯彻新发展理念、坚持稳中求进工作总基调提供世界观和方法论指导。

National Governance and Social Development Have an Inherently Unified Relationship

国家治理和社会发展具有内在统一关系

To deeply understand the theoretical logic of “promoting better compatibility between national governance and social development,” it is first necessary to clarify the respective connotations of national governance and social development and their interrelationship.

深入理解“推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应”的理论逻辑，首先要明确国家治理与社会发展的各自内涵及相互关系。

“National governance” is a broad concept within the overall perspective of modernization, particularly Chinese-path modernization. National governance cannot be understood narrowly as consolidating political power or administrative management; rather, it is a comprehensive concept concerning all aspects of the national economy and people’s livelihood. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The national governance system and governance capacity are the concentrated embodiment of a country’s system and its implementation capability. The national governance system is the institutional system for managing the country under the leadership of the Party, including the systems, mechanisms, laws, and regulations in various fields such as the economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization, and Party building—that is, a complete set of closely linked and mutually coordinated national institutions. National governance capacity is the ability to use the national system to manage all aspects of social affairs, including reform, development, and stability; domestic affairs, foreign affairs, and national defense; and Party governance, state governance, and military governance.” [1]1 Xi Jinping, “Explanatory Notes on the ‘Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Comprehensively Deepening Reform on Some Major Issues,’” November 9, 2013. It can be seen that in advancing Chinese-path modernization, national governance is an active factor with dominance and leadership, an organic unity of the national institutional system and national governance capacity, possessing an overall character that governs the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan.

“国家治理”是在现代化特别是中国式现代化总体视域下的广义概念。国家治理不能理解为狭义的巩固政权或行政管理，而是一个关系国计民生方方面面的总体概念。正如习近平总书记指出的：“国家治理体系和治理能力是一个国家制度和制度执行能力的集中体现。国家治理体系是在党领导下管理国家的制度体系，包括经济、政治、文化、社会、生态文明和党的建设等各领域体制机制、法律法规安排，也就是一整套紧密相连、相互协调的国家制度；国家治理能力则是运用国家制度管理社会各方面事务的能力，包括改革发展稳定、内政外交国防、治党治国治军等各个方面。”可见，在推进中国式现代化进程中，国家治理是具有主导性和引领性的能动因素，是国家制度体系和国家治理能力的有机统一，具有统摄“五位一体”总体布局的全局性。

“Social development” is also understood in a broad sense. Social development is the development of the overall social organism, based on a specific level of development of productive forces, unifying the economic base and the superstructure. It primarily refers to the social totality as an “organism capable of change and constantly in the process of change,” [2]2 Karl Marx, “Capital, Volume One,” Afterword to the Second German Edition. encompassing “all aspects of social affairs,” and cannot be narrowly understood merely as “social construction” within the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan. Therefore, broad social development inherently includes the active factor of national governance, which plays a dominant and leading active role within the overall process of social development. Precisely because social development contains national governance in its totality and fundamentally conditions it, national governance and social development have an inherently unified relationship, and national governance can and must adapt to social development.

“社会发展”同样也是广义上的。社会发展是基于特定生产力发展水平的、经济基础与上层建筑相统一的社会有机总体的发展，所指涉的主要是作为“能够变化并且经常处于变化过程中的有机体”的社会总体，包含“社会各方面事务”，而不能仅仅狭义地理解为“五位一体”总体布局中的“社会建设”。因而，广义的社会发展本身内在包含国家治理这一能动因素，国家治理在社会发展这一总体过程中发挥着主导性、引领性的能动作用。正是因为社会发展在总体上包含着国家治理，并从根本上制约着国家治理，所以国家治理和社会发展具有内在统一关系，国家治理能够适应和必须适应社会发展。

The practice of Chinese-path modernization further demonstrates that the modernization of national governance takes the modernization of social development as its basic orientation and the laws of modern social development as its fundamental guide, while high-quality social development also requires high-level national governance to drive and guarantee it. The relationship between national governance and social development is generally one of mutual determination and mutual promotion, an inherently unified relationship. Their “better compatibility” clarifies both the conditions, links, and pathways of social development and the goals, principles, and laws of national governance. The new thesis of “promoting better compatibility between national governance and social development,” on the one hand, develops the fundamental principles of historical materialism into concrete practical propositions; on the other hand, it elevates the issue of the relationship between social development and national governance to a principle-based height directly linked to productive forces and relations of production, and the economic base and superstructure, making the compatibility relationship between national governance and social development a key criterion for comprehensively deepening reform and economic and social development. In this way, it overcomes the “binary opposition between state and society” in the perspective of Western modernization, highlights the unity of national governance and social development, and advances the Sinicization and epochal development of the fundamental principles of historical materialism, especially the theory of the laws of social development, the theory of the basic contradictions of society, and the theory of the dynamic system.

中国式现代化实践进一步表明，国家治理的现代化以社会发展的现代化为基本导向，以现代社会发展规律为根本遵循，而社会的高质量发展也需要高水平国家治理来推动和保障。国家治理与社会发展之间总体上表现为互相规定、彼此促进的内在统一关系，二者“更好相适应”既明确了社会发展的条件、环节及路径，也规范了国家治理的目标、原则与规律。“推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应”的新论断，一方面把历史唯物主义基本原理发展为具体的实践命题；另一方面也把社会发展和国家治理的关系课题上升为与生产力和生产关系、经济基础和上层建筑具有直接关联的原理性高度，将国家治理和社会发展之间的相适应关系明确为全面深化改革和经济社会发展的关键尺度。由此，克服了西方现代化视域中的国家与社会“二元对立论”，彰显了国家治理和社会发展的统一性，推进了历史唯物主义基本原理尤其是社会发展规律论、社会基本矛盾论和动力体系论的中国化时代化发展。

The Contradiction between National Governance and Social Development Is Inherently Linked to the Basic Contradictions of Society

国家治理和社会发展的矛盾与社会基本矛盾具有内在联系

The Decision identifies national governance and social development, together with relations of production and productive forces, and the superstructure and economic base, as three pairs of contradictions that should be given key attention in further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese-path modernization, thereby more clearly revealing the unified relationship between national governance and social development. Social development is fundamentally determined by the level of development of productive forces, while national governance is, to a large extent, an important component and manifestation of the political superstructure. The reason national governance and social development can be juxtaposed with relations of production and productive forces, and the superstructure and economic base, is precisely because the relationship between national governance and social development, like the other two pairs, is fundamentally a concrete manifestation of the laws of human social development, especially the contradictions, coordination, and adaptation between the organizational forms of social relations and the level of social production. As Marx pointed out, “The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life.” [3]3 Karl Marx, “A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy,” Preface. The above-mentioned “three better compatibilities” are fundamentally internally related or unified. By continuously combining the basic contradiction theory of society with the stage-specific characteristics, concrete processes, and practical needs of social development in the New Era, the CPC has achieved the upholding and innovation of the fundamental principles of historical materialism.

《决定》将国家治理和社会发展与生产关系和生产力、上层建筑和经济基础共同确定为进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化应重点把握的三对矛盾，从而将国家治理和社会发展之间的统一关系更加明确地揭示出来。社会发展从根本上取决于生产力发展水平，国家治理则在很大程度上是政治上层建筑的重要组成部分和表现形式。国家治理和社会发展之所以能够与生产关系和生产力、上层建筑和经济基础并列，正是因为国家治理和社会发展的关系与其余两对关系一样，在根本上都是人类社会发展规律尤其是社会关系组织形式与社会生产发展水平之间矛盾、协调和适应关系的具体体现。正如马克思指出的，“物质生活的生产方式制约着整个社会生活、政治生活和精神生活的过程”。上述“三个更好相适应”从根本上具有内在关联性或统一性，中国共产党通过不断将社会基本矛盾理论与新时代社会发展的阶段特性、具体进程和现实需要相结合，实现了历史唯物主义基本原理的守正创新。

Specifically, between social development and national governance there exists a multi-link and mediating structure of conditioning relations of determination and counteraction, fundamental conditioning and active adaptation, and this structure is based on and mediated by the basic contradictions of society between productive forces and relations of production, and the economic base and superstructure. The basic contradictions of society, as the fundamental driving force, propel social development, and social development further determines the active factor within the superstructure—national governance. Correspondingly, national governance, as an active factor in the superstructure, counteracts social development, also mediated by the basic contradictions of society as the driving force: national governance actively acts upon other links and factors of the superstructure, driving the entire superstructure to counteract the economic base, and further driving relations of production to counteract productive forces. This structural relationship, mediated by the basic contradictions of society, is concretely manifested in the practice of national governance and social development as follows: social development has a determining effect on national governance, with the universal laws and stage-specific requirements of social development determining the institutional system and policy orientation of national governance; national governance has a highly active effect on social development, with the effectiveness and level of national governance constituting factors that promote or constrain the process and level of social development. Therefore, “promoting better compatibility between national governance and social development” takes the objective laws of social development as its fundamental basis and the national governance system and governance capacity as its active mechanism, thereby enriching and developing the theory of the dynamic system of social development. Only by grasping the multi-level, mediating structural relationship between national governance and social development at the height of the fundamental principles of historical materialism can we effectively exert the leading and driving role of high-level national governance for social development in the New Era, and achieve high-quality economic and social development under the institutional guarantees and capacity support of high-level national governance.

具体地看，社会发展和国家治理之间具有决定与反作用、根本制约与能动适应等多环节、中介性的制约关系结构，且这一结构以生产力和生产关系、经济基础和上层建筑之间的社会基本矛盾为基础和中介。社会基本矛盾作为根本动力推动社会发展，而社会发展进一步决定上层建筑之中的能动性因素——国家治理。相应地，国家治理作为上层建筑中的能动因素而反作用于社会发展，同样以社会基本矛盾为动力中介：国家治理能动地作用于上层建筑其他环节因素，推动整个上层建筑反作用于经济基础，并进一步推动生产关系反作用于生产力。这种由社会基本矛盾所中介的结构性关系，在国家治理和社会发展的实践中具体表现为：社会发展对国家治理具有决定作用，社会发展的普遍性规律与阶段性要求决定了国家治理的制度体系和政策导向；国家治理对社会发展具有高度的能动作用，国家治理效能和水平构成了社会发展进程及水平的推动或制约因素。因而，“推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应”以社会发展客观规律为根本依据，以国家治理体系和治理能力为能动机制，实现了对社会发展动力体系论的丰富发展。只有在历史唯物主义基本原理高度上把握国家治理和社会发展之间多层次、中介性的关系结构，才能切实发挥高水平国家治理对新时代社会发展的引领和推动作用，在高水平国家治理的制度保障和能力支撑下实现经济社会高质量发展。

“Better” Means That the Compatibility Relationship between National Governance and Social Development Is Dynamic and Developmental

“更好”意味着国家治理和社会发展的适应关系具有动态发展性

The process of aligning national governance with social development follows the law of motion of the fundamental contradictions of society and is a dynamic process of continuous development and improvement. The reason why the fundamental contradictions of society are the fundamental driving force of social development is precisely because there occurs a contradictory movement of determination and counteraction, fundamental constraint and active adaptation between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, thereby driving the development of the social organism. For national governance and social development, which have a profound internal connection with the fundamental contradictions of society, the level of alignment between them is likewise dynamic and developmental.

国家治理和社会发展相适应的过程，遵循社会基本矛盾的运动规律，是一个不断发展完善的动态过程。社会基本矛盾之所以是社会发展的根本动力，正是因为生产力与生产关系、经济基础与上层建筑之间发生着决定与反作用、根本制约与能动适应的矛盾运动，从而推动着社会有机体的发展。作为与社会基本矛盾具有深刻内在联系的国家治理和社会发展，二者的适应水平同样具有动态性、发展性。

The degree and level of alignment between national governance and social development constitute an important indicator for advancing Chinese-path modernization and realizing the comprehensive development of people and society. The degree requirement of “better alignment” in the *Decision* [4]4 The *Decision* refers to the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-Path Modernization,” adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee in July 2024. indicates that there exists a dynamic process of continuous exploration and tortuous ascent in the alignment between national governance and social development. The alignment of national governance with social development is a key practical issue in the process of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times and in the Party’s century-long struggle: the historical process in which the Communist Party of China has united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country to continuously advance the cause of building a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation itself contains an active process of exploration to continuously promote the alignment of national governance with social development. The series of new situations and new problems faced in advancing Chinese-path modernization on the new journey also set more complex and arduous tasks and higher standards for promoting better alignment between national governance and social development. To provide strong impetus and institutional guarantees for advancing Chinese-path modernization, it is necessary both to recognize the great significance of the alignment between national governance and social development from the depth of the fundamental contradictions of society, and to grasp the dynamic process and development space of their alignment from a historical perspective, continuously combining the concrete practices of national governance and economic and social development to understand the meaning of “better” and implement the requirements of “better.”

国家治理和社会发展相适应的程度水平构成推进中国式现代化、实现人与社会全面发展的重要指标。《决定》对“更好相适应”的程度要求表明，国家治理和社会发展之间的适应存在着一个不断探索、曲折上升的动态发展过程。国家治理和社会发展相适应是马克思主义中国化时代化和党的百年奋斗历程中的关键实践课题：中国共产党团结带领全国各族人民不断推进强国建设与民族复兴伟业的历史过程，本身就包含着不断推动国家治理和社会发展相适应的积极探索过程。在新征程上推进中国式现代化面对的一系列新情况新问题，也为推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应提出了更复杂艰巨的任务和更高标准的要求。为推进中国式现代化提供强大动力与制度保障，既要从社会基本矛盾的深度认识国家治理和社会发展相适应的重大意义，也要以历史眼光把握二者相适应的动态过程和发展空间，不断结合国家治理与经济社会发展的具体实践理解“更好”的含义，落实“更好”的要求。

The better alignment between national governance and social development has the profound implication of the Two Integrations

国家治理和社会发展更好相适应具有“两个结合”的深刻意蕴

From the perspective of the process of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, the principled requirement and exploratory process of “promoting better alignment between national governance and social development” embody a profound implication of the Two Integrations.

从马克思主义中国化时代化进程来看，“推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应”的原则要求和探索过程，体现出深刻的“两个结合”意蕴。

On the one hand, by integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities, the contradictory relationship between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, is enriched and developed with the specific connotations of Chinese-path modernization, and in the practice of development it is scientifically revealed that the national governance system and governance capacity are leading factors in promoting social development. Through the systematic advancement of comprehensively deepening reform, the contradictory relationships between relations of production and productive forces, between the superstructure and the economic base, and between national governance and social development are coordinated and developed. Creative development practices such as building a high-level socialist market economy system and vigorously developing new quality productive forces show that the mode of alignment between national governance and social development is concretely determined by the actual process of China’s social development in the New Era, and possesses distinct and profound Chinese characteristics. The process of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization provides the realistic premise and lays the practical foundation for promoting better alignment between national governance and social development. Different from the social structure of mutual division and antagonism between state and society in the process of Western modernization, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics enables national governance and social development to achieve organic unity, thereby transforming the effectiveness of national governance into a powerful impetus and guarantee for better adapting to and leading economic and social development.

一方面，将马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合，以中国式现代化的具体内涵丰富发展生产力和生产关系、经济基础和上层建筑的矛盾关系，在发展实践中科学揭示国家治理体系和治理能力是推动社会发展的引领性因素。通过全面深化改革的系统推进，生产关系和生产力、上层建筑和经济基础、国家治理和社会发展之间的矛盾关系得到协调和发展。构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制、大力发展新质生产力等创造性发展实践表明，国家治理和社会发展之间的适应方式受到新时代中国社会发展进程的现实规定，具有鲜明而深刻的中国特色。进一步全面深化改革和推进中国式现代化的进程，为推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应提供了现实前提，奠定了实践根基。区别于西方现代化进程中国家与社会相互分裂对抗的社会结构，中国特色社会主义制度使得国家治理和社会发展实现了有机统一，从而使得国家治理效能转化为更好适应和引领经济社会发展的强大动力保障。

On the other hand, the organic unity relationship between state and social development is deeply rooted in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and excellent traditional Chinese political culture, and is a necessary prerequisite for promoting better alignment between national governance and social development. Promoting better alignment between national governance and social development not only embodies the upholding and innovation of the theory of the fundamental contradictions of society, but also embodies the creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese political culture characterized by using governance of the state to lead social development. Whether it is the “state” as the subject of governance or the “society” as the subject of development, neither has become alienated due to capital expansion in the process of Chinese-path modernization as they have in the process of Western modernization; the relationship between state and society develops into an organic whole through internal connection and active adaptation.

另一方面，国家和社会发展的有机统一关系，深刻根植于中国特色社会主义道路和中华优秀传统政治文化之中，是推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应的必要前提。推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应既体现了社会基本矛盾理论的守正创新，又体现了以治国理政牵引社会发展为特征的中华优秀传统政治文化的创造性转化和创新性发展。无论是作为治理主体的“国家”，还是作为发展主体的“社会”，在中国式现代化进程中都没有像西方现代化进程一样因为资本扩张而发生异化，国家与社会的关系通过内在联系和能动适应而发展为有机整体。

“Promoting better alignment between national governance and social development” is a scientific revelation and forward-looking planning of the inevitable connection between national governance and social development, and a scientific summary and theoretical expression of the development impetus and institutional guarantees for advancing Chinese-path modernization. This new thesis and new requirement deepens the scientific understanding and practical development of the unified relationship between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, and promotes the advancement with the times and the upholding and innovation of the basic principles of historical materialism.

“推动国家治理和社会发展更好相适应”，是对国家治理和社会发展之间必然联系的科学揭示与前瞻规划，是对推进中国式现代化的发展动力与制度保障的科学概括和理论表达。这一新论断新要求，深化了对生产力和生产关系、经济基础和上层建筑的统一关系的科学认识和实践发展，推动了历史唯物主义基本原理的与时俱进、守正创新。

(Authors: Xi Ge and Fu Tianrui, respectively Wu Yuzhang Chair Professor and Lecturer at the School of Marxism Studies, Renmin University of China; both are researchers at the 21st Century Chinese Marxism Research Collaborative Innovation Center, Renmin University of China)

（作者：郗戈、付天睿，分别系中国人民大学马克思主义学院吴玉章讲席教授、讲师，均系中国人民大学21世纪中国马克思主义研究协同创新中心研究员）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心