Whole-Process People’s Democracy: The Unity of Discourse Construction and Practical Path

To deeply understand and interpret whole-process people’s democracy, one must grasp its prominent comparative advantage: surveying the garden of world politics today, whole-process people’s democracy achieves the unity of democratic discourse construction and democratic practice paths; it is a form of democracy that matches words with deeds. This is because it consistently adheres to taking “people-centered” as its logical starting point and political foundation, consistently takes running people’s democracy through the entire process as its prominent feature and developmental requirement, and consistently takes upholding the Party’s leadership as the fundamental guarantee for democratic development.

深入理解和阐释全过程人民民主，要把握其突出的比较优势：通观当今世界政治百花园，全过程人民民主实现了民主话语建构与民主实践路径的统一，是言行一致的民主形态。这是因为，它始终坚持将“以人民为中心”作为逻辑起点与政治底色，始终将人民民主贯穿全过程作为突出特征和发展要求，始终将坚持党的领导作为民主发展的根本保证。

The People-Centered Logical Starting Point

以人民为中心的逻辑起点

The discourse construction of whole-process people’s democracy embodies the people-centered concept. How to understand “the people” and on this basis construct democracy is the fundamental watershed for democracies in different countries. The Communist Party of China has put forward the discourse of people’s democracy and achieved democratic practice accomplishments. In state construction and political development, it has always proceeded from the fundamental interests of the entire people, always unifying the free development of individuals with collective progress and sharing, and with the practice of national modernization. The “people” in whole-process people’s democracy includes both respect for the individual rights of the masses and emphasizes the systematic concept of the “whole subject” of the people as a totality; respect for the individual rights of the masses is in turn unified within this “whole subject.” To realize the people being the masters of the country, it is necessary to unswervingly take the development of people’s democracy in the whole-process sense as the main agenda of democratic politics, avoiding the hollowing out of equality in the name of freedom and the emptying of democracy in the name of reason.

全过程人民民主话语建构体现以人民为中心的理念。如何理解“民”并在此基础上建构民主是各国民主的根本分水岭。中国共产党提出人民民主话语并取得民主实践成就，在国家建构与政治发展中始终从全体人民的根本利益出发，始终把个体的自由发展和集体进步共享、国家现代化实践相统一。全过程人民民主中的“人民”既包含对于人民群众个体权利的尊重，也强调人民整体这一系统性“全主体”概念，对人民群众个体权利的尊重又统一于“全主体”之中。为实现人民当家作主，就要坚定不移地把发展全过程意义上的人民民主作为民主政治的主要议题，避免以自由之名虚化平等、以理性之名架空民主。

The people’s character is reflected in the “whole subject.” The whole process first emphasizes that the subject of democracy is the entire people. The unity of the people’s subjectivity and individual rights is the primary prerequisite for developing whole-process people’s democracy and ensuring the people are the masters of the country. Following this theoretical logic, from the attribution of power to the exercise of power, from the delegation of power to the guarantee of rights, the people always occupy the subject position, and this is clearly stipulated in the form of the national constitution. It insists on exercising state power through the people’s congresses, and on broad and direct participation in managing state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings, and social affairs. In actual political operation, “the people” are the institutional subject and purpose. The basic socialist economic system, on the basis of ensuring the means of production belong to the entire people, truly realizes the people being the masters of the country, ensures that state power is always used for the people, ensures that democracy is not manipulated by individual interest groups or serves a minority of privileged strata, ensures that people’s democracy is not the democracy of a minority but the democracy of the broadest masses, and thereby ensures the unity of the people’s subjectivity and individual rights. The broadest masses enjoying the broadest rights is a major democratic advantage that the Chinese people take pride in, and it has also become a rare achievement in the history of world democracy.

人民性反映于“全主体”。全过程首先强调民主的主体是全体人民。人民主体性和个体权利的统一是发展全过程人民民主、保障人民当家作主的首要前提。因循这一理论逻辑，从权力归属到权力行使、从权力委托到权利保障，人民始终居于主体地位，并以国家宪法的形式明确下来，坚持通过人民代表大会行使国家权力，广泛、直接参与管理国家事务、经济文化事业和社会事务。现实政治运行中，“人民”是制度主体和目的。社会主义基本经济制度，在保证生产资料归全体人民所有的基础上真正实现人民当家作主，保证了国家权力始终为人民所用，保证了民主不受个别利益集团操控、不为少数特权阶层服务，保证了人民民主不是少数人的民主而是最广大人民的民主，进而保证了人民主体性和个体权利的统一。最广大人民享有最广泛权利，是中国人引以为豪的一大民主优势，也成为世界民主史上罕见的成就。

The people’s character is also reflected in the “whole domain.” The coverage of people’s democracy is broad and diverse, involving all aspects of the people’s exercise of their rights as masters of the country. From seeking individual independence and freedom in the struggle for national independence and national liberation during the New Democratic Revolution, to obtaining the right to survival and the right to development through achieving basic food and clothing after the founding of New China, to realizing the common development of political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights in the process of poverty alleviation and building a moderately prosperous society in all respects during reform and opening up, to developing whole-process people’s democracy in the process of building Chinese-path modernization since the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the people have fully shared the fruits of the country’s development at various stages, and the connotation of the people’s rights has been continuously enriched and developed. Adhering to the people-centered concept, continuously improving the institutional design and operation of democratic elections, democratic consultations, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision achieves the unity of continuity in time, wholeness in content, synergy in operation, and the breadth and sustainability of people’s participation. It ensures that the economy, politics, culture, society, and ecological civilization all truly reflect the people’s will and hear the people’s voices.

人民性也反映于“全领域”。人民民主的覆盖面广泛多元，涉及人民行使当家作主权利的方方面面。从新民主主义革命时期在争取国家独立、民族解放中谋求个体的独立自由，到新中国成立后从实现温饱中获得生存权和发展权，从改革开放后在脱贫攻坚、全面建成小康社会中实现政治、经济、社会、文化、环境各方面权利共同发展，到中国特色社会主义新时代以来在建设中国式现代化进程中发展全过程人民民主，人民充分共享国家发展各个阶段的成果，人民权利的内涵不断丰富发展。秉持以人民为中心的理念，不断完善民主选举、民主协商、民主决策、民主管理和民主监督的制度设计和运行，使得时间上的连续性、内容上的整体性、运行上的协同性和人民参与的广泛性、持续性统一起来，使得经济、政治、文化、社会、生态文明各个方面都真实体现人民意愿、听到人民声音。

The Comparative Advantage of Whole-Process People’s Democracy

全过程人民民主的比较优势

The original intention of proposing whole-process people’s democracy is to emphasize its whole-process nature relative to electoral democracy. Whole-process people’s democracy, through the construction of a complete institutional procedure and the implementation of complete participation practices, implements the people-centered democratic function in a whole-process manner, and has also become an institutional form, governance mechanism, and way of life for the people rooted in China’s soil.

全过程人民民主提出的初衷在于强调它相对于选举民主的全过程性。全过程人民民主通过完整制度程序构建和完整参与实践落地的方式，全过程地落实以人民为中心的民主功能，也成为扎根中国大地的制度形态、治理机制和人民的生活方式。

Whole-process people’s democracy relies on a “complete institutional procedure.” The Communist Party of China, relying on and leading the Chinese people, has explored and formed a systematic and complete democratic institutional system. The system of people’s congresses is the fundamental political system and an important channel for realizing whole-process people’s democracy. The Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress [1]1 The 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) was the national legislature of China from 2018 to 2023. Its Fourth Session was held in March 2021. passed the revised Organic Law of the National People’s Congress, which clearly stipulates that “the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee adhere to whole-process democracy, always maintain close ties with the people, listen to the people’s opinions and suggestions, reflect the people’s will, and protect the people’s rights and interests,” and sets requirements for NPC deputies to “fully play their role in whole-process democracy.” The system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, the system of grassroots self-governance, and the consolidation and development of the broadest possible patriotic united front are basic political systems. Focusing on different groups and different regions, they ensure in content and procedure, in an institutionalized manner, that the people are the masters of the country.

全过程人民民主依托“完整制度程序”。中国共产党依靠和带领中国人民，探索形成了一套系统完备的民主制度体系。人民代表大会制度是根本政治制度，是实现全过程人民民主的重要渠道。十三届全国人大四次会议通过了修改后的《全国人民代表大会组织法》，明确规定“全国人民代表大会及其常务委员会坚持全过程民主，始终同人民保持密切联系，倾听人民的意见和建议，体现人民意志，保障人民权益”，并对全国人大代表“充分发挥在全过程民主中的作用”提出要求。中国共产党领导的多党合作和政治协商制度、民族区域自治制度、基层群众自治制度以及巩固和发展最广泛的爱国统一战线是基本政治制度，着眼不同群体和不同区域，以制度化的方式在内容和程序上保证人民当家作主。

Whole-process people’s democracy relies on “complete participation practices.” Whole-process people’s democracy is a people’s democracy that is a complete chain, all-dimensional, and full coverage. Complete chain means that all links should fully respect and absorb the broadest public opinion; all-dimensional means that all domains should accommodate and introduce the broadest mass participation; full coverage means that the entire process of democracy should maximize the initiative and creativity of the masses, emphasizing the breadth and continuity of public participation. Whole-process people’s democracy, through a whole-process penetrating approach, simultaneously safeguards rights and regulates power. It effectively ensures the all-dimensional and whole-process realization of the people’s democratic rights, and also commits to ensuring the people’s supervision and restraint over public power, so that in different links, domains, and stages of democracy, the people can truly perceive the power of being the masters of the country according to law.

全过程人民民主依托“完整参与实践”。全过程人民民主是全链条、全方位、全覆盖的人民民主。全链条是指所有环节都应充分尊重和吸纳最广泛的民意，全方位是指所有领域都应容纳和引入最广泛的群众参与，全覆盖是指民主的整个过程都应最大限度地发挥人民群众的主动性和创造性，强调了公众参与的广泛性和连续性。全过程人民民主以全过程贯通的方式，对于权利的维护和权力的规范双管齐下，既有效确保了人民民主权利的全方位、全过程实现，也致力于保证人民对公权力的监督和制约，使得在民主的不同环节、不同领域、不同阶段，人民都能真切地感知依法当家作主的力量。

The dual “completeness” highlights the full-cycle comparative advantage of Chinese democratic practice. Whole-process people’s democracy does not take “ballots” as the sole orientation, but takes “whether problems can be effectively solved” as the performance orientation. Different from the formal democracy of “one election decides the whole term,” whole-process people’s democracy emphasizes the dialectical unity of democracy and centralism, emphasizes solving problems in the process, and effectively safeguards the true rights of all the people. Whole-process people’s democracy emphasizes the broad, multi-tiered, and institutionalized nature of consultative democracy, allowing supervision and restraint to run through the entire term of office, and allowing the expression of public opinion to run through the entire governance process. Whole-process people’s democracy emphasizes the full-cycle participation of citizens in managing state affairs and social affairs; all stages of decision-making require consulting public opinion, and public opinion truly runs through the entire process of decision-making and implementation.

双“完整”凸显中国民主实践的全周期比较优势。全过程人民民主不以“选票”为唯一导向，而以“是否能够有效解决问题”为实绩导向。区别于“一选定终身”的形式民主，全过程人民民主强调民主与集中的辩证统一，强调在过程中解决问题，有效维护全体人民的真实权利。全过程人民民主强调协商民主的广泛、多层和制度化，让监督和制约贯穿于整个任期，让民意表达贯穿于整个执政过程。全过程人民民主强调公民参与管理国家事务和社会事务的全周期，决策各阶段都需要征询公众的意见，民意真正贯穿于决策和执行的整个过程。

The Fundamental Guarantee for Developing Whole-Process People’s Democracy

发展全过程人民民主的根本保证

One reason discourse and practice maintain a high degree of unity, that is, realizing “true democracy” where “words match deeds,” is that the discourse leaders and practice leaders have a highly consistent understanding of democracy, and the institutional design conforms to the historical and actual conditions of the country and society. The Communist Party of China is both the constructor of democratic discourse and the leader of democratic practice. Party leadership is the key to whole-process people’s democracy ensuring direction, fully displaying its strengths, and achieving synergy and efficiency; it is the fundamental guarantee for the sustained vitality of socialist democratic politics.

话语和实践保持高度的统一性，即实现“言行一致”的“真民主”，原因之一是话语引领者和实践主导者对于民主的理解高度一致，制度设计符合国家和社会的历史和现实状况。中国共产党既是民主话语的建构者，也是民主实践的引领者。党的领导是全过程人民民主保证方向、尽展所长、协同高效的关键，是社会主义民主政治具备持续生命力的根本保证。

Party leadership ensures the direction, path, and effectiveness of whole-process people’s democracy. The Party’s original aspiration and founding mission is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This orientation closely revolves around the people-centered concept, ensuring the direction of whole-process people’s democracy. Party leadership also ensures the orderly realization of whole-process people’s democracy. First, it has established and improved the systems and mechanisms for the Party’s overall leadership, optimized the decision-making and coordination bodies of the Party Central Committee, and strengthened the Party’s centralized, unified leadership over major work. Second, by strengthening Party building at all levels, adhering to the mass line, and forging flesh-and-blood ties with the people, the Party has developed strong capacity for social mobilization and cohesion. Third, by upholding the basic strategy of law-based governance, the Party has placed the construction of whole-process people’s democracy on a legalized track, emphasizing the important channels and roles of people’s oversight, and building a solid defense for the sustained and healthy development of whole-process people’s democracy. Party leadership also ensures the high quality and efficiency of democratic governance. Party leadership broadly forms consultative democratic mechanisms for the people to participate in management and governance at all levels, protecting and bringing into play the people’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity in orderly participation in grassroots self-governance and various affairs.

党的领导保证全过程人民民主的方向、路径和效能。党的初心使命和根本宗旨是为中国人民谋幸福、为中华民族谋复兴。这一定位紧扣以人民为中心的理念展开，保证了全过程人民民主的方向。党的领导也保证全过程人民民主有序实现。一是建立健全了党全面领导的体制机制，优化了党中央决策议事协调机构，加强了党对重大工作的集中统一领导。二是党通过加强各级党组织建设，坚持走群众路线，与人民群众建立起血肉联系，形成强大的社会动员力和凝聚力。三是党通过坚持依法治国基本方略，推动全过程人民民主建设走上法治化道路，强调人民监督的重要渠道和作用，为全过程人民民主的持续健康发展筑牢防线。党的领导还保证民主治理的优质高效。党的领导广泛形成人民群众参与各层次管理和治理的协商民主机制，保护和发挥人民群众有序参与基层自治以及各项事务的积极性、主动性、创造性。

Party leadership ensures that whole-process people’s democracy achieves the unity of discourse construction and practical path. The most vibrant field of democracy lies in governance practices rich in historical traditions and national characteristics; the completeness of its theory and reality can only be accomplished in governance practice. The Party’s discourse construction regarding whole-process people’s democracy, grounded in the reality of China’s super-large scale and complex system, provides guarantees for national stability and development; democratic practice enhances the cohesion of the entire people, improves the effectiveness of national governance, and continuously advances the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. Party leadership also makes people’s evaluation an important standard for the unity of whole-process people’s democracy discourse with practice. The Party adheres to the mass line and insists that democracy must be subordinated to the people’s needs, practiced by the people, and judged by the people. Centering on the issues the people care about most, such as socioeconomic development and improvement of people’s livelihoods, the construction of people’s democracy led by the Party continuously takes problem-solving as its orientation and development effectiveness as its goal, achieving people-centered good governance.

党的领导保证全过程人民民主实现话语建构和实践路径的统一。民主最充满活力的场域在富有历史传统和国情特征色彩的治理实践，其理论和现实的完整性需要在治理实践中才能完成。党关于全过程人民民主的话语建构，立足中国超大体量、复杂系统的现实，为实现国家稳定和发展提供保障；民主实践增强全民凝聚力，提升国家治理效能，不断推进国家治理体系和治理能力的现代化。党的领导也使人民评价成为全过程人民民主话语统一于实践的重要标准。党坚持走群众路线，坚持认为民主必须服从于人民需求，由人民来实践，由人民来评判。围绕社会经济发展和现实民生改善等人民群众最关心的问题，党领导的人民民主建设持续以解决问题为导向、以发展实效为目标，实现以人民为中心的善治。

Party leadership also ensures the interactive enhancement and common development of the discourse and practice of whole-process people’s democracy. From people’s democracy to whole-process people’s democracy, it is more aligned with the development requirements of the New Era [2]2 The New Era refers to the period following the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017, marked by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guiding ideology., responds to the fundamental interests of the people, and at the same time, in the details of democratic practice, a large number of representative innovative democratic practices of the New Era, such as National People’s Congress oversight and the People’s Daily Online “Message Board for Leaders” [3]3 The “Message Board for Leaders” is an online platform run by People’s Daily where citizens can submit comments, suggestions, and complaints directly to Party and government officials at various levels., have achieved remarkable results. “Whole process” is a process within a certain context and scope. When deeply comprehending the great significance and rich connotations of whole-process people’s democracy, attention must be paid to the discursive boundaries and operational limits of whole-process people’s democracy.

党的领导还保证全过程人民民主的话语和实践互动提升，共同发展。从人民民主到全过程人民民主，更加契合新时代发展要求，回应人民根本利益诉求，同时在民主实践细节上，人大监督、人民网“领导留言板”等大量代表性的新时代民主创新实践成效显著。全过程是在一定语境和范围内的过程。要在深刻领会全过程人民民主的重大意义和丰富内涵时，注意全过程人民民主的话语边界和运行限度。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗