Contenu du sommaire : Administration et action publique en Chine contemporaine

The hunt for tigers and flies : the Party, the State and public administration in the People's Republic of China — Can the managerialism adopted by the Chinese authorities to modernise public administration while avoiding political reform forge an efficient State capable of meeting the economic, social and environmental challenges China is faced with today? Can it preserve or restore the legitimacy of the Communist Party of China (CPC)? Is it an effective substitute for reform of a more political nature, or is it in fact helping to move things along in this direction? This article places the “issue of bureaucracy” within the Chinese historical and socio-political context, outlining the major reforms adopted by the Chinese authorities since 1978. It demonstrates that while the structural reforms of the State have been necessary to support a policy of growth, they have also been characteristic of an economic policy based on Party control and collection of profits, the development of forms of illegal trade and the growth of inequalities. The combined effect of these three factors has stirred up conflicts in the Party and significantly eroded its legitimacy. These trends explain both the difficulties and the contradictions of contemporary Chinese governance and the reform agenda as it stands today.

— Social transformations and the development of constitutionalism in China — This article traces the development of constitutionalism in China since the entry into force of the 1982 Constitution by considering it within its context and identifying its shortcomings and difficulties. It shows that substantial progress has been made, especially concerning the recognition and definition of rights, legislative and constitutional procedure, the more active participation of the legislature and the general role of legislation in the exercise of governmental powers. The limitations of this process are also highlighted, including the lack of representativeness of the National People's Congress, the over?dominant role of the executive in the development of legislation, and the absence of any independent and effective constitutional guarantees. The article also discusses a number of referrals and claims initiated by Chinese citizens in order to develop and enforce their rights, and demonstrates that constitutionalism can be considered as a social mobilisation process.

— Changing nothing to change everything: innovation and continuity in the reforms of Chinese administrative training — At the end of the Maoist era, the institutionalisation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was aided by the development a more highly-skilled bureaucracy to achieve economic development in a stable political context. Reforms concerned not just recruitment, management and civil service organisation, but also the training of officials in order to improve their skills. The introduction of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) in 1999 enhanced the scientific character of administrative knowledge while pre-existing selective mechanisms were retained. The MPA supports the country's modernisation by enabling the State-Party to undertake continuous reform of public administration.

— Control systems in China's public administration: can a “harmonious society” be forged to the detriment of the rule of law? — To promote its goal of creating a “harmonious society”, China has taken measures over the last ten years to develop control systems in public administration. There is a lack of detailed research, but this process, which is reflected in the improvement of the Xinfang (petitioning system) and implementation of the major judicial mediation process, has had negative consequences on efforts to assert the rule of law in China. Hence the need to examine what social harmony really means. Only when the various different ways of exercising administrative controls are aligned at a legal level will it be possible to achieve social harmony, which above all requires compliance with the principles of equality, legality and legal certainty.

— The rule of law in China: on the margins of a bureaucratic and absolutist empire (1978-2014) — The paper tries to address difficult yet key questions for China's future legal development: Can we assess the last 35 years of legal reform, which has officially aimed to establish the rule of law (yifazhiguo)? Put differently: Can the legal reforms undertaken by the Communist Party of China (CPC) since 1978 build a coherent and reliable legal system? If not, then how can the gap between the official discourse in favour of the rule of law and daily practices on the ground be explained? To answer these questions, we have built a database of all laws and administrative regulations (of all kinds) promulgated by the State Council, the National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee between December 1978 and February 2014. This database offers a comprehensive view of the various phases of China's legal reforms divided by areas of law. It also shows the remaining existence of a vast normative disorder despite the 2000 Law on Legislation. China is still ruled by a myriad of administrative regulations whose legal statuses are vague and/or arbitrary. The lack of normative authority of national laws in the general legal framework contributes to the lack of authority of the NPC, which still cannot constitute a true legislative authority. Under the direct guidance of the existing executive powers at the State and Party levels, the Standing Committee of the NPC remains the key legislature. Finally, our quantitative results show that new actors have been involved in the law-making process since the early 2000s. These actors target new areas of laws and regulations, in particular those related to public safety, public security and freedom of expression. This new trend largely explains the substitution of an official discourse on Rule of Law with that of a so-called “harmonious society”.

— Industrial policy in China: the extent and limitations of the renewal of the Chinese State — Industrial policy has been a major driver of the Chinese State's renewal since the launch of the 1978 reforms. Whereas in the 1980s this policy was still subject to planning, the 1990s have been marked by changes in the way the State intervenes: it acts less directly and in a more targeted manner to support companies, improve the business environment and help the process of catching up with new technology. Despite achieving notable results, industrial policy comes up against problems such as the fragmentation of China's political and economic system, major challenges such as the rapid degradation of the environment and the need for changes to the policy of growth.

— The energy policy at the core of Chinese modernization — Despite a significant development of green industries over the last years, it is still too early to speak of a « Chinese energy transition ». The strong influence of the state and of large public firms in energy production and distribution, at the core of China industrial growth, is an obstacle to the emergence of a low-carbon economy and to a real energy transition in the short term. The government adopted a number of effective measures to promote energy efficiency and renewable energies. However, these strategies contribute to confort energy security of the country, but fail so far to significantly curb the use of fossil fuels.

— The history and development of agricultural administrations : forms of State integration in the Chinese countryside — This article aims to examine the role of the Chinese State in agricultural production by tracing the development of the administrations and policies concerned. It focuses in particular on the last “three periods” of Chinese agricultural policies, during which rural development and food safety have once again become vital to the central political agenda, having previously been neglected in favour of industrial and urban development. The article thus seeks to describe the specific methods used by the State to boost agricultural production in rural areas.

— The State and social welfare in China — The Chinese welfare system has been gradually expanded since the early 2000s to cover the entire Chinese population. Despite extensive coverage, it is still a geographically fragmented and disparate system, which provides unequal protection depending on whether people live in urban or rural areas. People living in rural areas receive very few benefits and still depend upon family solidarity to cope with illness or old age, while migrant workers, because of their precarious status, remain largely excluded from the social welfare system. The Chinese system needs to be further reformed to guarantee greater equality in the payment of pensions and access to care, thus ensuring it is sustainable in the medium term, just as the ageing of the population is raising issues regarding its funding.

— The creative chaos of the social networks: opportunity or threat for information and the development of the State — The social networks in China often make the headlines owing to their size, scope and responsiveness: they are used almost round the clock by more than 600 million people, generally via their mobile phones. Does this tremendous potential represent an opportunity or a threat for the Chinese Government in its reform process? Before we can answer this question, it is important to understand the policy framework and specific role granted to the media and social networks in China. The situation is very different from that in Europe, as is the legal framework, which gives the State a constant and complex degree of control that is maintained by an equally responsive politico-administrative system. The article concludes with some suggested scenarios regarding how current trends will evolve. It would seem that the Government's position has hardened and an opportunity has been missed for dialogue on the quest for a comprehensive reform of Chinese society.

— The weapon of power and the power of weapons: analysis of the contemporary development of the People's Liberation Army — Alongside its growing economy, China is restoring and developing its military capabilities. The Chinese regime now has a reliable and well-skilled army which clearly constitutes a sign of power on the international stage. However, the development of China's capabilities are bringing about extensive changes in its defence structure. The acquisition of new resources will necessitate changes in doctrine, an overhaul of certain command structures, the development of training, and changes to the way the PLA is politicised. Contemporary developments of the PLA cannot be analysed on the sole basis of its increased capabilities. While China is now the second global power, this process of military modernisation is still on-going, and it is complex, partly because it goes beyond just the area of defence. Further to a description of the current structure of the PLA, this article analyses the key stages of the military transformation process that has occurred over the past twenty years, in order to shed light on the status and the political influence of the Chinese armed forces.

— The new institutional issues of Chinese foreign policy — Since China began to reform and open up, the institutions involved in the process of formulating and deciding Chinese foreign policy have become more professional and there are more of them. The increased professionalism of existing institutions has clearly made Chinese diplomacy more effective and facilitated the country's integration within international organisations. However, the increased number of institutions has added new obstacles to decision-making. This article explains how the growing competition between the various institutions has complicated the foreign policy decision-making process, thus perpetuating its traditional way of reacting to developments. A new, more proactive foreign policy strategy can only be developed thorough far-reaching institutional simplification. China's new President Xi Jinping is trying to undertake this task, not without difficulty.

— Participatory democracy and citizen participation: reflection on a promising concept and its practical applications — Despite having a very broad base, participatory democracy currently needs a decision-making process based on greater legitimacy if it is to meet the expectations of citizens' and intermediary bodies' in modern complex societies. A number of citizen participation schemes and deliberative procedures have for some years been exploring ways of shedding light on or supervising elected offices. France has been developing such schemes for many years, thus demonstrating a capacity to adapt which has not yet been assessed.

— Convergence and resistance vis-à-vis the Common Security and Defence Policy: a Franco-­German comparison — This article explores the impact of the creation of Brussels-based administrative bodies in the framework of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and the coordination of these bodies with national defence administrations. More precisely, the analysis entails a comparison of the French and German administrations. After explaining the limits of the Europeanisation concept when it comes to examining the case of defence administrations, the article assesses the changes that the CSDP institutions have brought about regarding the two countries' administrative practices (top down approach). It then demonstrates how national administrative cultures and organisations constitute factors of resistance to Europeanisation in the defence field (bottom up approach).