Author(s)

Zaijian Qian^*, Shitao Huo^*

Political Science Department, University of Wisconsin—Baraboo and Sauk County, Baraboo, WI, USA.

A rising enthusiasm among general public to participate the government businesses has become a noticeable development in China’s recent history. Authors have observed government sponsored programs to endorse policy feedbacks from society; we have also witnessed spontaneous actions by individuals and social groups to involve in the debate and discussion on varies socioeconomic issues and problems, mostly through direct contact with government agencies, or mass media and social media networks. It is through open, fair and public deliberation over large and small issues in all sectors of government institutions that the quality of government governance has been steadily improved. This in return galvanizes further changes in the political institutions, processes and policy making outcomes, and contributes to a higher echelon of legitimacy for the regime. Politics of political participation through democratic deliberation in China is a logical result of a permanent transformation in decades—from the change of political rhetoric in nation’s Constitution, to amazingly expanded economy, profound restructured social stratifications, redistributed wealth and assets, enormous number of affluent middle class population, and increasingly fledged agents of civil society. We argue that the growth of massive participation in government businesses has not only proved to be realistic to its governance, but also well serves an alternative mechanism for oversight of government behavior. Deliberative democracy is useful because it is a complementary agent to electoral democracy.

Political Participation, Deliberative Democracy, Middle Class, Coercion, Cooperation, China, Politics of Election and Deliberation

Qian, Z. and Huo, S. (2017) Politics of Participation—In Search for Deliberative Governance in China. Open Journal of Political Science, 7, 257-266. doi: 10.4236/ojps.2017.72020.