At 3 pm May 18th, the eighth academic salon sponsored by the Politics Science of the Department of Public Affairs was held in 221 meeting room, Zhengzhi building. Professor of Politics Science Chen Binghui from Politics Science gave the keynote speech. The director of Politics Science, Luo Sidong, deputy director Li Yanxia, the teachers’ representatives Li Jian, Fan Hongda, Wang Yunping, Nie Anxiang, Li Dan,some teachers and graduate students all attended.
The theme of the academic salon was the consultative democracy. Professor Chen Binghui has dedicated himself to the democracy research for over 20 years, and his relative research of Consultative Democracy is influenced by the Double Track theory of Jurgen Habermas. Professor Chen clarified the concept of the State Governance and the Consultative Democracy, as there are some differences between Chinese context and Western context. As far as professor Chen concerned, the Consultative
Democracy is a consensus that people reach in an atmosphere, and the foundation of policy making decision. Then professor Chen pointed out that the dilemma of Participatory Democracy caused the impossibility of policy making. Also, Elite Democracy reject the public to join in the policy process so it can’t work can be solved by Consultative Democracy. At last, professor Chen pointed out that Consultative Democracy is the ideal path to combine the Elite politics and citizen participation.
The audience knew the Consultative Democracy much deeper according to the speech of professor Chen. Later, people asked questions actively and Chen answered seriously. People showed their respect and gratitude to professor Chen by their warm applause. The asalon ended successfully at 5 pm.
