The Dialectical Logic of Institutional Development in the New Era

Institutions are the foundation of a nation; when institutions are stable, the nation is stable, and when institutions are strong, the nation is strong. To further deepen reform comprehensively, it is necessary to adhere to institutional development as the main thread. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “Adhering to institutional development as the main thread requires strengthening top-level design and overall planning, simultaneously establishing new systems and abolishing old ones, establishing the new before abolishing the old, consolidating fundamental institutions, perfecting basic institutions, and innovating important institutions.” This important exposition shines with the intellectual wisdom of dialectical materialism and provides the fundamental guidance for institutional development in the New Era. On the new journey, only by insisting on the synergy between top-level design and grassroots exploration, the simultaneous establishment of new systems and abolition of old ones, and the combination of systematic advancement and partial breakthroughs can we ensure that institutional development both meets the requirements of the times and promotes social development, thereby solidifying the institutional foundation for advancing Chinese-path modernization.

制度是立国之基，制度稳则国家稳，制度强则国家强。进一步全面深化改革，要坚持以制度建设为主线。习近平总书记强调，“坚持以制度建设为主线，要加强顶层设计、总体谋划，破立并举、先立后破，筑牢根本制度，完善基本制度，创新重要制度”。这一重要论述闪烁着唯物辩证法的思想智慧，为新时代制度建设提供了根本遵循。新征程上，唯有坚持顶层设计与基层探索协同、创立新制与破除旧制并举、系统推进与局部突破结合，才能确保制度建设既符合时代要求又促进社会发展，为推进中国式现代化夯实制度根基。

1. Synergy between Top-Level Design and Grassroots Exploration

1. 顶层设计与基层探索协同

“Crossing the river by feeling the stones and strengthening top-level design are dialectically unified; promoting local, phased reform and opening up must be carried out under the premise of strengthening top-level design, and strengthening top-level design must be planned on the basis of promoting local, phased reform and opening up.” Starting from grassroots exploration accumulates experience for top-level design, and then top-level design guides new grassroots practice. The positive interaction between top-level design and grassroots exploration embodies the contradictory transformative movement of “particular—universal—particular,” follows the cognitive development law of “practice—cognition—practice,” manifests the organic combination of the Party’s leadership strength and the people’s subjective strength in institutional development, contains the Party’s mass line leadership and working method of “from the masses, to the masses,” and is also an important method for institutional development in the New Era.

“摸着石头过河和加强顶层设计是辩证统一的，推进局部的阶段性改革开放要在加强顶层设计的前提下进行，加强顶层设计要在推进局部的阶段性改革开放的基础上来谋划。”从基层探索出发为顶层设计积累经验，再以顶层设计指导新的基层实践。顶层设计与基层探索的良性互动体现了“特殊—普遍—特殊”的矛盾转化运动，遵循了“实践—认识—实践”的认识发展规律，彰显了在制度建设中党的领导力量和人民群众的主体力量的有机结合，蕴含着“从群众中来，到群众中去”的党的群众路线的领导方法和工作方法，也是新时代制度建设的重要方法。

The combination of top-level design and grassroots exploration is a historical experience bred by reform and opening up. The history of reform and opening up is also a history of the interactive evolution of top-level design and grassroots exploration. At the beginning of reform and opening up, the bold exploration of household contracting in Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province, was recognized by the central authorities, and the “big contract” was elevated to the household contract responsibility system, promoted nationwide in the form of Central Document No. 1; the secret of the gorgeous transformation of the small fishing village of Shenzhen into a metropolis was daring to try and dare to act, and local experience promoted China’s opening up from points to lines, from lines to surfaces in depth. The accumulation of practical experience pushes top-level design onto an institutionalized track, and the positive interaction between top-level design and grassroots exploration has driven China’s economic and social development to achieve outstanding achievements. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, comprehensively deepening reform has endowed grassroots exploration and top-level design with a brand-new connotation of the times. A series of practical explorations, such as pilot free trade zones, pilot reforms of the national supervision system, and pilot reforms of the judicial system, have accumulated valuable experience for top-level design, promoting reform to unfold step by step from easy to difficult, from small to large.

顶层设计与基层探索结合是改革开放孕育的历史经验。改革开放的历史也是顶层设计与基层探索互动演进的历史。改革开放之初，安徽小岗村包产到户的大胆探索得到了中央认可，并将“大包干”提升为家庭联产承包责任制，以中央一号文件的形式推广至全国；深圳小渔村华丽蝶变为大都市的密码是敢闯敢试，局部经验助推我国对外开放从点到线、由线至面深入发展。实践经验的积累推动顶层设计走向制度化轨道，顶层设计与基层探索的良性互动推动我国经济社会发展取得卓越成就。党的十八大以来，全面深化改革赋予了基层探索和顶层设计崭新的时代内涵。自由贸易试验区、国家监察体制改革试点、司法体制改革试点等系列实践探索为顶层设计积累了宝贵经验，推动改革从易到难、由小至大逐步展开。

Strengthening the planning role of top-level design is a requirement of the times for comprehensively deepening reform. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that in the New Era, “reform more often faces deep-seated institutional and mechanistic problems, requiring higher demands on top-level design of reform.” More attention should be paid to top-level design, fully leveraging the guiding role of top-level design for grassroots exploration. From the perspective of necessity, current reform has entered the “critical period” and “deep water zone,” with increased complexity and risk of reform. How to fully stimulate and accumulate reform momentum, how to effectively handle and resolve reform difficulties, how to precisely grasp and regulate the pace of reform, and how to maximize the gathering of reform consensus and strength—the resolution of these issues all rely on scientific and reasonable top-level design, overall planning, and coordinated arrangements. In terms of possibility, at the current stage, China’s various systems are more mature and more定型, which not only provides a basic framework and principles for top-level design but also provides strong guarantees for the implementation of the design. From the establishment of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform to the design of reform timetables, roadmaps, and overall plans, to the adoption of various special reform guiding opinions, these are all vivid manifestations of the Party Central Committee strengthening top-level design to lead grassroots practice.

强化顶层设计的谋划作用是全面深化改革的时代要求。习近平总书记指出，新时代“改革更多面对的是深层次体制机制问题，对改革顶层设计的要求更高”。应更加注重顶层设计，充分发挥顶层设计对基层探索的指引作用。从必要性来看，当前改革已进入“攻坚期”和“深水区”，改革的复杂性和风险性增加。如何充分地激发和积聚改革动力，如何有效地处理和化解改革难题，如何精准地把握和调控改革节奏，如何最大限度地凝聚改革共识和力量，这些课题的解决都离不开科学合理的顶层设计、总体谋划和统筹安排。就可能性而言，现阶段我国各方面制度更加成熟更加定型，这既为顶层设计提供了基础框架和原则，也为设计落地提供了有力保障。从成立中央全面深化改革领导小组到设计改革的时间表、路线图和总体方案，到通过各类专项改革指导意见，这都是党中央加强顶层设计引领基层实践的生动体现。

Create a new situation of China’s governance in the positive interaction between top-level design and grassroots exploration. To advance Chinese-path modernization through institutional development, we must both adhere to the Party’s centralized and unified leadership over further comprehensively deepening reform, strengthen the scientific planning of top-level design, systematically plan and scientifically deploy the direction, goals, and paths of reform, ensure the coherence of the reform process, the synergy of measures, and the effectiveness of results, and use scientific top-level design to provide theoretical guidance, determine action direction, and grasp the overall situation of reform for grassroots exploration; we must also pay attention to the active exploration of grassroots practice, encourage grassroots units to combine reality with courage to forge ahead and pilot first, summarize new experiences, new practices, and new methods that can be replicated and promoted, and further refine and elevate them, using active grassroots exploration to provide practical support and a source of living water for top-level design. Top-level design and grassroots exploration complement each other, jointly driving the steady progress and long-term development of institutional development.

在顶层设计与基层探索的良性互动中开创中国之治新局面。以制度建设推进中国式现代化，我们既要坚持党对进一步全面深化改革的集中统一领导，加强顶层设计的科学规划，对改革的方向、目标和路径等予以系统筹谋和科学部署，确保改革进程的连贯性、举措的协同性和成果的有效性，以科学的顶层设计为基层探索提供理论指导、确定行动方向、把握改革大局；也要注重基层实践的积极探索，鼓励基层单位结合实际勇于开拓、先行先试，总结可复制、可推广的新经验、新做法、新方式，并进一步提炼、升华，以积极的基层探索为顶层设计提供实践支撑和源头活水。顶层设计和基层探索相辅相成，共同驱动着制度建设的稳健前行与长远发展。

2. Simultaneous Establishment of New Systems and Abolition of Old Ones [P8

2. 创立新制与破除旧制并举

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must adhere to the dialectical unity of breaking and establishing, advancing both breaking and establishing while prioritizing establishing before breaking; what should be established must be actively set up, and what should be broken must be promptly broken on the basis of what has been established, so that in the unity of breaking and establishing, reform can proceed steadily and swiftly.” [1]1 The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC: A major meeting of the Chinese Communist Party held in July 2024, focused on further comprehensively deepening reform and Chinese-path modernization. Institutional construction must combine the creation of new systems with the abolition of old ones, placing greater emphasis on creating new systems, and on this basis abolishing old ones. By advancing both breaking and establishing while prioritizing establishing before breaking, it provides inexhaustible impetus and institutional guarantees for Chinese-path modernization.

习近平总书记指出：“要坚持破和立的辩证统一，破立并举、先立后破，该立的积极主动立起来，该破的在立的基础上及时破，在破立统一中实现改革蹄疾步稳。”制度建设要将创立新制和破除旧制结合起来，更加注重创立新制，在创立新制基础上破除旧制，以破立并举、先立后破为中国式现代化提供不竭动力和制度保障。

Marx believed: “Dialectics, in its positive understanding of what exists, simultaneously includes a negative understanding of it, that is, an understanding of its inevitable destruction.” [2]2 The 18th National Congress of the CPC: Held in 2012, the congress that formally inaugurated the New Era under Xi Jinping’s leadership. The development of things is a process of discarding the old and bringing forth the new, of destroying the old and establishing the new. For institutional construction, “breaking” means eliminating those old systems and old concepts that deviate from the trends of the times and hinder social progress, while “establishing” refers to constructing new systems and new concepts that conform to the fundamental interests of the people and can lead future social development. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, we have adhered to resolutely breaking what should be broken and actively establishing what should be established. For example, in the economic field, the new development concept [3]3 The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC: Held in 2013, this session adopted the landmark decision on comprehensively deepening reform. was used to break the “GDP-only” outlook; in the political field, the construction of Party conduct and clean governance [4]4 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC: Held in 2019, this session focused on upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance. was used to rectify the stubborn malady of the “Four Forms of Decadence” [5]; in the social field, integrated urban-rural development was used to break the urban-rural binary opposition, promoting reform and development through destroying the old and establishing the new.

马克思认为：“辩证法在对现存事物的肯定的理解中同时包含对现存事物的否定的理解，即对现存事物的必然灭亡的理解。”事物发展是一个推陈出新、破旧立新的过程。对于制度建设而言，“破”意味着要革除那些背离时代趋势、阻碍社会进步的旧制度和旧观念，“立”则指建构符合人民根本利益、能够引领未来社会发展的新制度和新观念。党的十八大以来，我们坚持应破的坚决破、该立的积极立，如经济领域以新发展理念破“唯GDP论”，政治领域以党风廉政建设纠治“四风”顽疾，社会领域以城乡融合发展破城乡二元对立，在破旧立新中推动改革发展。

Breaking before establishing is a revolutionary dialectic, emphasizing the establishment of a new order on the basis of destroying the old system. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, without eliminating the old rule, it was impossible to establish a new society; it was precisely by smashing the old world that we created the conditions for the founding of New China. In the New Era, China’s social structure is relatively stable, and the direction

先破后立是一种革命的辩证法，强调在摧毁旧制度的基础上建立新秩序。新民主主义革命时期，不能消灭旧统治，就无法建立新社会，我们正是通过打碎旧世界为新中国成立创造了条件。新时代我国社会结构相对稳定，发展方向已经明确，先立后破的改革辩证法于是成为当前制度建设的主导方法。先立后破是指先确立新的制度框架，再逐步废除旧的制度，以新体制机制的优势消解旧制度的基础和根据，以保证新旧制度平稳过渡、制度建设有序进行、中国制度稳步成熟与定型。在修订法律条文时，我们坚持“先修改法律，先立后破，有序进行”；在调整产业结构时，我们强调“腾笼不是空笼，要先立后破”。在推动绿色转型时，我们“不能把手里吃饭的家伙先扔了，结果新的吃饭家伙还没拿到手”。要稳步推进、步履坚实，急不得，也慢不得。

In promoting the steady and sustained progress of institutional development in the New Era through the simultaneous approach of breaking and establishing, with establishment preceding breaking. Institutional development in the New Era requires us to integrate the dual wisdom of "being bold in breaking the old" and "being adept in establishing the new." On the one hand, we must be courageous in revolution, daring to make sweeping "breaks," breaking through the constraints of outdated conventions and customs, shattering the barriers of solidified interests, and resolutely eradicating those institutional ills that hinder social progress and obstruct modernization. On the other hand, we must be adept in overall planning for "establishment," carefully laying out and scientifically designing, proceeding from objective reality and China's national conditions, to construct an institutional system that possesses both historical rationality and closeness to public opinion, as well as practical value, thereby consolidating the institutional foundation for social development. By breaking old systems to make room and open paths for social development, and by establishing new systems to provide impetus for social progress, we continuously forge new advantages for China's institutions through the simultaneous approach of breaking and establishing, with establishment preceding breaking, and advance Chinese-path modernization through institutional modernization.

在破立并举、先立后破中推动新时代制度建设行稳致远。新时代制度建设要求我们融合“勇于破旧”和“善于立新”的双重智慧。一方面，要勇于革命，敢于大刀阔斧地“破”，突破陈规陋习的约束，打破利益固化的藩篱，以坚定决心铲除那些阻碍社会进步、阻碍现代化建设的制度痼疾；另一方面，要善于统筹谋划地“立”，精心布局、科学设计，从客观实际和中国国情出发，构建既具有历史合理性又贴近民意、具有现实价值性的制度体系，夯实社会发展的制度根基。以破除旧制为社会发展腾出空间、开辟道路，以创立新制为社会进步提供动力，在破立并举、先立后破中持续锻造中国制度新优势，以制度现代化推进中国式现代化。

3. Combining systematic advancement with breakthroughs in specific areas

3. 系统推进与局部突破结合

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that to further deepen reform comprehensively, “we must continue to work comprehensively, so that reform measures comprehensively cover the prominent problems that need to be solved in advancing Chinese-path modernization; we must also continue to exert real effort in deepening, highlighting the economic system as the key point, and strive to remove deep-seated institutional barriers and structural contradictions.” This important exposition manifests the philosophical wisdom of the dialectical unity between system and elements, whole and parts, and overall situation and locality. Only by combining systematic advancement with partial breakthroughs can institutional construction in the New Era better promote reform to proceed steadily and far.

习近平总书记强调，进一步全面深化改革“既要继续在全面上下功夫，使改革举措全面覆盖推进中国式现代化需要解决的突出问题；又要持续在深化上用实劲，突出经济体制这个重点，着力破除深层次体制机制障碍和结构性矛盾”。这一重要论述彰显了系统和要素、整体和部分、全局与局部之间辩证统一的哲学智慧。新时代制度建设只有将系统推进与局部突破结合起来，才能更好推动改革行稳致远。

The combination of systematic advancement and partial breakthroughs runs through the entire process of reform. As early as 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “the relationship between overall advancement and key breakthroughs” is one of the key relationships that must be grasped in comprehensively deepening reform. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC further listed “placing greater emphasis on systemic integration and placing greater emphasis on highlighting key points” as part of the guiding ideology for further comprehensively deepening reform. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the outstanding achievements of China’s reform have vividly interpreted the practical power of the principle of combining systematic advancement with partial breakthroughs. We have taken the reform of the economic system as the key point, deepened supply-side structural reform, improved the basic systems of the market economy, built a high-level socialist market economy system, and promoted a historic leap in the quality of economic development. We have coordinated the advancement of reforms in other fields, such as developing socialist democracy through whole-process people’s democracy, and building a beautiful China through ecological civilization construction. The reform achievements in various fields have jointly painted a new picture of social progress.

系统推进与局部突破相结合贯穿改革全过程。早在2013年，习近平总书记便强调“整体推进和重点突破的关系”是全面深化改革需要重点把握的关系之一。党的二十届三中全会进一步将“更加注重系统集成，更加注重突出重点”列为进一步全面深化改革的指导思想。党的十八大以来，中国改革的卓越成就生动诠释了系统推进与局部突破相结合原则的实践伟力。我们以经济体制改革为重点，深化供给侧结构性改革，完善市场经济基础制度，构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，推动经济发展质量实现历史新跃迁。我们协同推进其他领域的改革，如以全过程人民民主发展社会主义民主，以生态文明建设美丽中国，各领域的改革成果共同绘就了社会进步的新画卷。

Placing greater emphasis on systematic advancement is a prominent feature of further comprehensively deepening reform. Society is an organic system composed of various elements, aspects, and fields. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Comprehensively deepening reform involves the overall work of the Party and the state, involves various fields of economic and social development, and involves many major theoretical and practical issues; it is a complex systemic project.” At present, the main framework of China’s reform has been basically established, and major breakthroughs have been made in reforms in main fields. Systematic advancement of various reforms has become an important method of institutional construction. This requires us to place greater emphasis on the coordination and matching of reforms in various fields, to pay more attention to the overall effect of reforms at various stages, and to ensure that reforms are consistent in direction, coordinated in goals, and complementary in effects. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC opened a new journey of comprehensively deepening reform and promoting reform through systemic overall design in the New Era. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC made strategic deployments for institutional construction in the New Era. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC put forward major principles and overall requirements for further comprehensively deepening reform. Systemic nature, holistic nature, and synergy are prominent characteristics running through further comprehensively deepening reform.

更加注重系统推进是进一步全面深化改革的突出特点。社会是各要素、各方面、各领域构成的有机系统，习近平总书记指出：“全面深化改革涉及党和国家工作全局，涉及经济社会发展各领域，涉及许多重大理论问题和实际问题，是一个复杂的系统工程。”当前我国改革主体框架已基本确立，主要领域改革取得重大突破，系统推进各项改革成了制度建设重要方法。这要求我们更加注重各领域改革的协调配套，更加关注各阶段改革的整体效果，确保改革在方向上一致、在目标上协同、在效果上互补。党的十八届三中全会开启了新时代全面深化改革、系统整体设计推进改革新征程，党的十九届四中全会对新时代制度建设作出战略部署，党的二十届三中全会对进一步全面深化改革提出重大原则和总体要求。系统性整体性协同性是贯穿进一步全面深化改革的显著特点。

Continue to write a new chapter of future institutional construction through the organic combination of systematic advancement and partial breakthroughs. Tinkering adjustments will not work, nor will fragmented repairs; what is needed is comprehensive and systematic reform and improvement, the linkage and integration of reforms and improvements in various fields. Adhering to systematic advancement requires strengthening strategic thinking, dialectical thinking, and historical thinking. It is necessary to plan reform goals from a strategic height, coordinate reform measures from an overall perspective, and achieve coordinated linkage of reforms in various fields through systematic planning and overall advancement. Pulling one hair moves the whole body; placing one piece activates the entire board. Seeking partial breakthroughs requires focusing on solving the blocking and bottleneck problems that hinder high-quality development, the pain points and difficulties that harm the quality of people’s lives, and the focal and hot issues that contradict social fairness and justice, especially giving full play to the leading role of economic system reform in reforms in other fields. Through the deep integration of systematic advancement and partial breakthroughs, continuously create a new situation of institutional construction for advancing Chinese-path modernization.

以系统推进与局部突破的有机结合续写未来制度建设新篇章。零敲碎打调整不行，碎片化修补也不行，必须是全面的系统的改革和改进，是各领域改革和改进的联动和集成。坚持系统推进，就要强化战略思维、辩证思维、历史思维，要从战略高度规划改革目标、从全局角度统筹改革举措，通过系统谋划和整体推进实现各领域改革的协调联动。牵一发而动全身，落一子而活全盘。谋求局部突破，就要着力解决有碍高质量发展的卡点堵点问题、有损群众生活品质的痛点难点问题、有悖社会公平正义的焦点热点问题，特别是发挥好经济体制改革对其他领域改革的牵引作用。以系统推进和局部突破的深度融合，为推进中国式现代化不断开创制度建设的新局面。

(Author: Xu Bin, specially-appointed researcher of the Beijing Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Professor at the School of Marxism, Beijing Normal University)

（作者：徐斌，系北京市习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员、北京师范大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心