Zhu Daokun

(National University of Defense Technology,Changsha Hunan 430000)

Abstract:The social organization is the periodic product of the change of social management mode before and after the reform and opening-up.Under the background of governance theory,the status of social organizations must be further enhanced.To realize the modernization of the national governance system,it is necessary to further develop and improve social organizations to meet the needs of The Times when traditional social management changes to modern social governance.The generation of pivotal social organizations should aim at improving the governance of social organizations.The key lies in the implementation of the concept of “separation of politics and society”.The construction of pivotal social organization should become the representative of social interests in function,break away from the color of “official office” in main body,and strengthen the cultivation,service and supervision of social organization in behavior.

Key words:governance;social organization;separation of politics and society

Ⅰ.Introduction

Since the third plenary session of the 18th CPC central committee,the CPC central committee has made advancing the modernization of the country’s governance system and governance capacity the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform,and the role of social organizations has been paid more attention and developed rapidly.According to the statistics of the ministry of civil affairs in the second quarter of 2018,there are more than 783,000 social organizations in China,while in the second quarter of 2013,the number was only 506,000.As provider of public services and social welfare,social organizations are more and more important in the process of serving people’s livelihood and solving social problems.The report of the 19th national congress of the communist party of China (CPC) clearly pointed out that it is necessary to “strengthen the construction of community governance system,move down the social governance center,give play to the role of social organizations,realize the positive interaction between government governance and social adjustment and residents’ autonomy,and create a social governance pattern of co-construction,co-governance and sharing”.This is an emphasis on the role of social organizations by the party central committee.

As early as 2008,Beijing issued the opinions on accelerating the reform and development of social organizations,which defined the pivotal social organizations as a joint social organization established as bridge bonds in politics,leading organization in business and empowered by the government.The establishment of pivotal social organization is praised as a major innovation of local social organization and management system.Many cities began to build pivotal social organizations and achieved certain results.However,unclear institutional logic and practical path still exist,and the role played by this kind of organizations are still questioned.

Ⅱ.The institutional background of the emergence of pivotal social organization

1.From “unitization” to “atomization”:historical vicissitude of social form

The so-called unitization,depicts the process of social management that the social members are dispersed in different units according to a certain standard,and the units distribute resources,work arrangement,welfare security and so on.As early as 1949,just before the founding of the People’s Republic of China,the first plenary session of the Chinese people’s political consultative conference (CPPCC) declared,“We should organize the vast majority of the Chinese people in political,military,economic,cultural and other organizations to overcome the disorganized state of old China,use the collective power of the great masses of the people,support the people’s government and the people’s liberation army,and build an independent,democratic,peaceful,unified and prosperous new China.” This expresses the new state’s desire to organize the people in different kinds of units.Based on this basic national strategy,before the reform and opening up,Chinese people lived in different units according to different components and identities,including various government organs,public institutions and enterprise units in cities,and people’s communes and their subordinate units in rural areas.〔1〕“units” cover all functions of social management from cradle to grave.The state has strongly intervened and penetrated into all areas of social life with “units” as the intermediary.To maintain a basic social life,a person must rely on the unit,which greatly enhances the individual’s attachment to the unit.

Atomization refers to the process of modernization and urbanization,in which individuals break away from the community of agricultural society and move towards the urban society dominated by strangers.In the process,“the decline of family and kinship relationships as a source of social cohesion,as well as the decline of trust,constitute the characteristics of the great divide.”〔2〕For China,this change happened not only in the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society,but also in the process of the disintegration of the traditional system of units.After the reform and opening up,China’s social structure has undergone drastic changes,especially with the large-scale population migration and farmers entering the city,the social environment has become more complex.Correspondingly,the relationship between the state and society is also changing,various social forces gain development space and display their vitality,and the traditional “system of units” management begins to lose efficacy.As Xi Jinping pointed out,“Nowadays,many people are employed freely and flexibly,and many are moving,instead of staying at work or at home.The old way of contacting them is often out of reach.”〔3〕As a result,the consciousness of social autonomy was awakened with the disintegration of the system of units,and various forms of social organizations became important carriers for the expression of individual interests of society.〔4〕In order to adapt to the new social situation and better provide social services,the importance of social organization becomes more obvious.After nearly four decades of development,social organizations have played a more active role in various fields such as economy,politics,science and technology,education,culture and health,and have become an important force in promoting the healthy development of China’s economy and society.

2.From management to governance:the transformation of social intervention mode

The government’s intervention in society,initially take “administration” or “government” as the main way.But in recent four decades,the idea of governance became a fashionable word.As a political science concept,originally emerged in the late 1980s.When the world bank first proposed “crisis in governance” when discussing African development in 1989,the concept of “governance” quickly became popular in academic circles.In 1995,the council on global governance made a classic definition of governance:Governance is the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions,public and private,manage their common affairs.It is a continuing process through which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and co- operative action may be taken.It includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce compliance,as well as informal arrangements that people and institutions either have agreed to or perceive to be in their interest.〔5〕Governance is a model choice to adapt to social diversification.As Xi Jinping pointed out,“the governance and management are not just different in word,the idea of governance reflects systematic governance,law-based governance,source governance and comprehensive policy implementation.”

Compared with traditional management,there are two obvious differences in governance:(a) emphasis on the multi-interaction of subjects.Governance is not merely managed and governed by the government and other public powers.The concept of state centralism is abandoned and the responsibility of governance need to be shared by the state,the society and the private,rather than exclusively enjoyed by the government.At the same time,it emphasizes that all participants can achieve their respective goals through multiple means and rely on and support each other in the process.〔6〕(b) emphasis on the effective communication of process.Governance does not advocate the realization of a specific goal through force.Instead,it emphasizes the effect of governance through an effective communication and promotes the formation of positive relations between the country and the society.The key point of governance is that the objectives are set in the process of negotiation and reflection,which should be adjusted through negotiation and reflection.In this sense,the failure of governance can be understood as a result of the failure to redefine the objectives as a result of the parties’ dispute over whether the original objectives are still valid.〔7〕In this process,all subjects depend on each other,negotiate effectively,reflect on and adjust the problems such as governance objectives,thus creating a strong ability of self-correction.

Ⅲ.Pivotal organization under the logic of “management”

In the context of “governance”,the state,society and family all need to play a full role,but the institutional arrangement based on “management” is on the opposite.As a result,the emergence of pivotal social organizations aims to solve the problems existing in the management system.However,from the perspective of institutional arrangement and actual effect,they are still carried out within the framework of “management”,and the purpose is to strengthen the government’s management of social organizations.

1.Dual management:institutional arrangements for strengthening the management of social organizations

China adopts a dual management system for social organizations,which can be concluded as “centralized registration,dual responsibility and hierarchical management”,both social organizations,private non-enterprise units and foundations are jointly managed by registration and business authorities from the application for establishment to the implementation of activities.〔8〕This management mode was reflected in the Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social Groups (1989,revised in 1998).Thereafter,The Interim Regulations on the Registration and Management of Private Non-enterprise Units (1998) and the Regulations on Foundation Management (2004) also follow this legislative approach.For example,according to article 6 of the Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social Groups,civil affairs departments at all levels are the registration and administration organs of social organizations,and the relevant government departments,organizations authorized by the state council and local people’s governments are the competent department.This system is actually a kind of entrance management system constructed in accordance with the household registration management idea in the planned economy era.Its main purpose is to restrict the development of social organizations and prevent possible political risks through the system form of dual responsibility of registration administration organs and competent business units,each performing his or her duties,and strict supervision.〔9〕

2.The drawbacks of the dual management system

On the one hand,the legal and orderly development of social organizations is seriously hindered:(a) the threshold of registration of social organizations is raised.Due to the lack of benefits in the process of managing social organizations,qualified government departments are often reluctant to be the business supervisor of social organizations,thus raising the threshold of registration.(b) the government intervention is too serious.According to related regulations in our country,beside managing the organizations’ preparations for the application,set up registration,registration of change,cancellation of examination and approval,the department in charge of the management are also responsible for the supervision and management of daily work,which makes the competent management unit to management of social organizations and other civil organizations to conduct a comprehensive and direct intervention,make social organization to a great extent,attached to the competent management unit.At the same time,some social organizations are actively closer to the competent management units,and the competent management units are also willing to turn these organizations into their own appendages and directly intervene in them,thus seriously hindering the development of social organizations and the transformation of government functions.

On the other hand,the dual management system is also difficult to effectively manage social organizations:(a) there are many social organizations that do not register and break away from the system.The dual management system excessively strengthened the management of social organizations,and led to many organizations do not register,thus breaking away from the management of the system.Some scholars have conducted small-scale surveys in villages and towns in Anhui,Shenzhen and other places.The results show that the number of registered society organizations accounts for about 1/12 to 1/20 of the actual number,and the number of registered non-governmental enterprises accounts for 1/10 to 1/12 of the actual number.〔10〕(b) multi-head management makes it difficult to supervise effectively.For the register management unit,besides the annual inspection,the lack of effective supervision means,once the registration of social organizations out of management;For management authorities,supervision of social organizations is not their main business.Therefore,it is difficult to support and guide the work of social organizations and unable to effectively restrict and supervise their behaviors.

3.Pivotal social organization as a means of “management”

The malpractice of dual management system has been widely recognized,from the concrete practice of the pivotal social organization,its main function is to deal with the drawbacks of the dual management system,so as to further strengthen the management of the social organization:

On the one hand,the establishment of pivotal social organizations is to replace the government department as a management unit,and to include those organizations that are divorced from the system.For example,the initial purpose of Beijing’s establishment of the pivotal social organizations is to find out the basic number and situation of those actually running but not registered organizations.Of the 8,000 social organizations contacted by Beijing municipal committee of Communist Youth League,only 1,500 are officially registered,while the rest are unofficially registered enterprises and social organizations.〔11〕The establishment of Beijing municipal committee of Communist Youth League as a pivotal social organization has actually clarified its administrative power over social organizations.Otherwise,these organizations will continue to operate in grey zone.At this point,the role of the pivotal social organization is to replace the government departments to assume the responsibility of the management unit.

On the other hand,the establishment of a pivotal social organization further strengthens the connection,service and management of social organizations in related fields.In Beijing in 2009,for example,Beijing established about ten city-level pivotal social organization including the Red Cross society,Women’s Federation,Labor Union,etc.The responsibilities of the pivotal social organization are management and supervision of the social organizations,thus effectively alleviates the problem that government departments are difficult to supervise effectively.

In addition,the emergence of pivotal social organizations may also lead to the more reasonable resource monopoly of “official” social organizations over other social organizations.For example,a director of a social organization about disabled in Fengtai district of Beijing pointed out:as a general social organization,even if meet the basic eligibility requirements,also need to apply government service projects through the pivotal organization disabled persons federation,the disabled persons’ federation are more inclined to meet the requirements of their own “direct” social organization,and ignores the grass-roots organizations.Under the pivotal social organization mechanism,the ordinary social organization has a new “employer”.〔12〕

Ⅳ.Pivotal organization under the logic of “governance”

1.separation of government and society:policies and propositions on strengthening the governance of social organizations

The “separation of politics and society” at the turn of the century refers to the separation of the functions of party and government organs and social groups (including trade associations),which reflects the basic requirements for the transformation of government functions.〔13〕The key issue is to stress the limitation of government functions and change the operation mode of the all-powerful government before the reform and opening up.During this period,the main task was to free the government from the overall control of the society.As to the governance of the society,no special attention was paid at this stage,and there was no in-depth and detailed institutional consideration.

However,the government’s withdrawal has not directly led to the improvement of social governance,and even made some areas chaotic.Since the beginning of the 21st century,with the new formulation of “harmonious society”,“social construction” and “social management” proposed at the fourth plenary session of the sixteenth central committee,the importance of social construction has been more widely recognized,and the connotation of “separation of politics and society” has been greatly enriched and developed.The key lies in the emphasis not only on “political” deregulation,but also on “social” construction.In particular,the third plenary session of the 18th central committee of the communist party of China (CPC) put forward the decision on several major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reform to stimulate the vitality of social organizations.We will properly handle government and social relations,speed up the separation of government and social organizations,and make sure that social organizations have clear rights and responsibilities,exercise autonomy in accordance with the law and play their roles.

The proposition of the separation of politics and society is actually the result of complicated social situation,diversified social components and individualized social needs.Specifically,the government has the advantage of focusing on big things,but has a weakness in providing personalized,diversified services.Social organizations,however,can remedy this deficiency and provide more practical services to all groups in society.Therefore,it is necessary for the government and social organizations to be relatively separate and cooperate with each other,so as to give better play to their respective advantages and jointly solve the problems in social construction.

2.specific requirements for the separation of government and society

The separation of government and society is not purposed to abolish the role of the government in social governance,but to perfect the division of function between government and social organizations in social governance so as to optimize the social governance system.Therefore,it contains at least two basic requirements:

On the one hand,we should strengthen the autonomy of social organizations,release the vitality of social organizations,and realize autonomy in accordance with the law.(a) realize the relative separation of government organs and social organizations.Under the principle of the separation of government and society,all kinds of social organizations,especially social organizations,need to gradually achieve independence in the aspects of governance,operation and finance according to the requirements of socialization and specialization.(b) simplify the registration process of social organizations and gradually liberalize the registration of social organizations.(c) strengthening the third-party evaluation mechanism,rating social organizations by third-party intermediary organizations,and promoting the healthy and orderly development of social organizations.

On the other hand,we should strengthen government supervision and services over social organizations and ensure that their activities are conducted in accordance with the law.(a) strengthen the government’s supervision and audit of social organizations in the form of laws,clarify the supervision responsibilities of audit,price,tax,finance and other departments on social organizations,so as not to deviate from the basic purpose of social services,and provide a strong institutional guarantee for the work of social organizations in accordance with the law.(b) further clarify the government’s support and cultivation of social organizations and strengthen their cooperation and governance.(c) we will continue to streamline administration and delegate power to lower-level governments,clarify the boundaries of government functions,and transfer functions of the government,so that social organizations can more effectively participate in social development.

It should be noted that there is no contradiction between strengthening the autonomy of social organizations and strengthening the effective supervision by the government.What the government supervises is the legitimacy of the activities of social organizations rather than the content of the activities.Compared with the overly general supervision and guidance in the current legal norms,the effective supervision under the separation of politics and society is based on the premise that the law effectively clarifies the responsibilities and powers of the government and social organizations,which is a kind of legal supervision.

3.Pivotal social organization as a means of “governance”

Under the background of improving the social governance system of socialism with Chinese characteristics,the construction of pivotal social organization needs to meet the basic requirements of the separation of government and society,and avoid the “old wine” of management to be set in the “new bottle” of pivotal social organization.Under this logic,the construction of a pivotal social organization should meet the following requirements:

First,pivotal social organization shall,as opposed to a government agency,if pivotal social organization on the organization,operation mode and government agencies to completely consistent,the in the process of social governance is difficult to form effective and the relationship between different work,consultation,also cannot achieve the government and social organization and individual,each can do its expected goals.

Second,pivotal social organizations should cooperate and govern together with government organs.Pivotal social organizations and government organs are not a relationship between superior and subordinate,and they may play their unique roles in the process of social governance.In particular,it should give more play to its professional advantages in the process of social governance.In the process of social governance,it should complement the advantages and interact positively with the government.

Third,the pivotal social organization should play the role of incubating,serving and guiding other social organizations.The pivotal social organization is not a general social organization,so we should do a good job in policy guidance and ideological initiation,especially through effective social organization cultivation,to realize the reconstruction of the social organization system,make it more effective to participate in social governance,and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

Ⅴ.The route selection of the development of pivotal organization

Based on the aforementioned requirements and considerations,in the governance logic,the pivotal social organization needs to make path arrangement from functional orientation,subject requirements,service content and other aspects:

1.Functional orientation:social interest representative

As a representative of social interests,pivotal social organization directly embodies the basic spirit of governance.Modern society emphasizes pluralistic co-governance.In terms of pluralism,the government is not the only social manager,and it is impossible to monopolize all social affairs.It must form a close and effective interactive relationship with social organizations,market players and individuals,and emphasize the role of multiple subjects.In terms of common governance,all subjects should be encouraged to independently express their interest demands and,on this basis,fully negotiate and seek consensus,so as to form public policies that are in line with the common interests of the society.It should be noted that with the development of the times,many important structural changes have taken place in China’s economy,politics,culture,society and other fields.In particular,the development of socialist market economy has formed the differentiated demands of different groups and profoundly touched the adjustment of interest structure.The social organization reflects the complex will and differentiated interest appeal of civil society.For the pivotal organization,what it wants to solve is to integrate this interest demand,and accurately feedback to the government level,so that it can effectively respond to the social proposition.This function positioning has the following meanings:

First,we should guide the integration of interests to form a more representative social proposition.Pivotal social organization in the process of social interest claim form,need to play the role of the integration of interests effectively,and develop advantages of the organizations,strengthen the identity of the social organization,and avoid the diversification of interest’s expression.

Second,express interest demands and effectively carry out consultation and common governance.Through effective channels to express,and improve stakeholder dialogue and consultation mechanism,the pivotal organization should detail combing of the collected information,and completes the connecting link between the government and social organizations,actively build government departments,social organizations and the masses to participate in the governance of society.

2.Subject requirements:get rid of the color of “official organization”

The practical forms of pivotal social organizations in different regions can be classified into three types,namely political people’s organizations,trade associations (or unions),and comprehensive social organizations federations (or community organizations service centers).〔14〕At present,the “official” color of these pivotal social organizations is still too obvious.Many pivotal social organizations are established in the mass organizations.Some new type pivotal social organizations,also have close relationship with the government,are unable to decoupling on financial and personnel.For example,the Shanghai Jing ’an district social organization federation was established in 2007,operating funds provided by the district finance (by civil affairs bureau),each year can get 1.6 million from the district government budgetary,and it is similar to a full funding institutions,has 10 formal full-time employees.〔15〕It can be said that these institutions have establishment and financial allocation,and are closely related to party committees and governments.In the process of reflecting social demands,it is difficult for them to play an effective role and become representatives and spokespersons in specific fields,thus forming an effective and benign interaction with the government.To effectively play the role of the pivotal social organization,it must be separated from the “official” color.There are two possible paths:

First,the reform of organizations should be deepened to realize the de-administration and de-grading of mass organizations to a certain extent.Of course,it is difficult,even impossible to change the identity of the “official organization”,but it is necessary to make better links with the social organizations at the grass-roots level,docking and integrated into the society,further contact and coordinate the relationship between government and society,enhance the social organization appeal and cohesion.

Second,the law needs to allow the same type and regional social organizations to establish their own pivotal social organizations.Such pivotal social organizations are completely voluntary in joining and withdrawing,are completely equal in status,and compete and cooperate with each other in relationship.At the same time,it is necessary to make clear that the pivotal social organizations should be governed by the constitution and establish fair and scientific conference decision-making procedures and voting decision-making procedures.Through strict program design and system arrangement,the pivotal social organization might be truly responsible to its members.

3.Behavior pattern:cultivation,service and supervision

Once the position of a pivotal social organization is clear,its work content naturally needs to adapt to its status requirements.Some scholars pointed out that the role of a pivotal organization should be “brothers”,not “fathers”.It should be a platform,not a bottleneck.It must focus on service,not regulation.Avoid the tendency of “strong management while weak service”,“strong concentration while weak autonomy”,“strong supervision while weak guidance” and “strong monopoly while weak competition”,that may appear in the running pivotal organizations.〔16〕We agree with this understanding that the behavior pattern of pivotal social organization should include three aspects:

First,cultivating social organizations to create and provide favorable conditions for the generation of social organizations.The pivotal social organization is a mature and experienced social organization.In the process of the emergence of the new social organization,the pivotal social organization should use its own advantages to help the social organization to register legally,form a scientific organization,and assist it to complete relevant procedures.

Second,serving social organizations and providing intellectual support and practical guidance for the development of social organizations.As mentioned above,the relationship between the pivotal social organizations and the common social organizations is not management in the traditional sense,and the pivotal social organization should pay special attention to providing services and guidance for the common social organizations.

Third,Supervising social organizations.We will exercise daily supervision over social organizations and contact relevant intermediary agencies to evaluate and audit social organizations,so as to clarify their rights and responsibilities and exercise autonomy in accordance with the law.This kind of supervision is a kind of unofficial supervision.We should make good use of such tools as information disclosure,public opinion guidance and ideological construction to enable social organizations to carry out activities in accordance with the law and form a good social situation.