Grass　Roots Practice for the Construction of Law　BasedGovernment in the Western Ethnic Minority Regions

Chen Maoxuan　Guan Yanping

Abstract：The construction of lawbased government is basic for the modernization of a national governance system and governance capacity. At present， the construction of grassroots lawbased government in ethnic regions is being carried out in an orderly manner. This will reshape the administrative system， judicial system and the rule of law in grassroot governments in ethnic minority regions. Grassroots practice will improve the effectiveness of constructing lawbased governments in ethnic minority regions， promote the rule of law in grassroots governments in the New Era， and improve the quality of social governance. Taking the “LawBased Demonstration Town” Project in Chuanzhusi Town， Songpan County， Sichuan Province as an example， this paper demonstrates certain aspects of the construction of lawbased governments in the western ethnic minority regions. By doing so it provides an objective basis for understanding the project for constructing grassroots， lawbased governments and how they transform social governance in ethnic minority regions. In addition， it provides a theoretical framework for understanding grassroots practices.

On the organizational level of the “LawBased Demonstration Town” project， a guidance team， with the Party Secretary of the town as the team leader， and other main leaders of the town， serving as the deputy leader or secretaries in charge of organization， discipline inspection and publicity， has been set up to organize and coordinate relevant work so that the project could be carried out in an orderly manner. The project clarifies the leading role and responsibility of the Party Committee in the project. The Party Committee of the town has held joint meetings of participating departments many times to mobilize relevant officials and make specific arrangements. In addition， the Party committee has clarified the tasks and responsibilities in the annual liability statement for Party building work， providing clear standards and references for the project; and established a regular reporting system and the inspectionsupervision system for the Party building work of the participating departments. On the basis of providing specific guidance for the participating departments， the Party Committee of the town is to hold a joint meeting of the participating departments every quarter to summarize the work carried out in the previous quarter year， make work arrangements for the current quarter， and assign the work responsibility to specific officials.

In terms of thebuilding the ideology of “rulebylaw” needed to implement the “LawBased Demonstration Town” project， and in order to improve the thinking of grassroots cadres about rulebylaw， their ability to handle affairs according to laws， as well as to create an atmosphere for the construction of a “LawBased Demonstration Town”， the town Party Committee and government organs have requested the central group of the Party Committee of the town， in accordance with the requirements of the County Party Committee， to study the laws four times a year. The main Party and government leaders annual report on the rule of law and clean governance is also required to be conducted concurrently， and cadres are required to study the laws for more than 40 hours each year. Chuanzhusi Town has also formulated and implemented a system for organizing premeeting law study sessions and special law study sessions.? In order to promote the popularization of the law， Chuanzhusi Town has set up a “popularization of the law team” to research and make arrangements for popularizing the law. They have done this by formulating a “Chuanzhusi Town Popularization of the Law Work Plan” and “Chuanzhusi Town Popularization of the Law Activity Plan”， and incorporated the implementation of the “LawBased Demonstration Town” Project into the comprehensive assessment target. Thus， a mechanism for popularizing the law has been created with the leadership of the town Party Committee， the supervision of the town People? s Congress， the implementation by the town government， the management of all governmental departments and the participation of the entire population of the town.

In addition， the Party Committee of the town has carried out the project for building a “LawBased Demonstration Town” in a lawabiding and standard manner to promote the systematic construction of a lawbased government. They have done this by setting up a team to oversee the administrative enforcement of the law responsibility system. Under this team is an administrative office whose members play their roles according to the division of the responsibilities. Moreover， it has issued the “Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Construction of a LawBased Government in Chuanzhusi Town”， and formulated a series of work system and norms. These include： 1） a lawbased decisionmaking system， 2） an open government affairs system， 3） a “power list” system， 4） the standardization of administrative licensing， 5） the improvement of the procedures for the administrative enforcement of law， 6） an internal supervision system for administrative reconsideration， and， 7） the supervision and inspection of the administrative enforcement of law， and a complaint feedback system.? The construction of a harmonious society for the construction of the “LawBased Demonstration Town” project mainly involves the following areas： creating safe communities and maintaining a secure environment for a harmonious society; carrying out investigations into and resolving contradictions and disputes， and locating the sources of these contradictions and disputes in grassroots society; establishing a work mechanism for integrating? people? s mediation， judicial mediation and administrative mediation in order to solve minor disputes at the grassroots level; strengthening rural governance and mobilizing the people at the grassroots level to participate in and support the construction of a harmonious society; and carrying out the activities of consolidating the social foundation for building a harmonious society. Villages and towns are at one end of the states power and influence， and the governance of villages and towns in ethnic minority regions represents the states governance of towns and villages， as well as the public powers intervention in and influence on the society and peoples daily life in ethnic minority regions.

By analyzing thepractice of implementing the “LawBased Demonstration Town” project in Chuanzhusi Town， this paper presents the construction of its organizational system， the construction of lawabiding thought， the construction of lawbased government， and the construction of a harmonious society for building/creating a lawbased grassroots government in western ethnic minority regions. The vivid example of the construction of a lawbased government in Chuanzhusi Town provides an objective basis for understanding the construction project of grassroots lawbased government， and the transformation of social governance in ethnic minority regions. It also provides a theoretical framework for the interpretation of this grassroots practice， which may be helpful in explaining and optimizing this great project.

Key Words： ethnic minority regions; lawbased government; Chuanzhusi Town; grassroots practice; demonstration project