For a long time, people have been trying to explore how to govern the country. History and practice tell us that the rule of law is the best mode of governing the country so far. "Impermanence is strong, impermanence is weak. Those who serve the law are strong, then the country is strong, and those who serve the law are weak, then the country is weak. " Now all developed countries in the world regard the rule of law as the way to govern the country. China has a history of several thousand years of feudal society, and has long lacked the tradition of democracy and legal system. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, we have made useful explorations in governing the country, but we have also gone through detours and learned profound historical lessons. On the basis of summing up the experience of building democracy and legal system since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward "ruling the country according to law and building a socialist country ruled by law" in a timely manner to meet the objective requirements of building Socialism with Chinese characteristics, and took it as the basic strategy for the party to lead the people in governing the country. The Second Session of the Ninth National People's Congress wrote this general plan of governing the country into the Constitution and guaranteed it by the fundamental law of the country. The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China regards governing the country according to law as an important content of building socialist political civilization.

Governing the country by law requires that the country is a country ruled by law, the society is a society ruled by law, and the government is a government ruled by law. The goal of governing the country according to law is to establish a country ruled by law, and the goal of administration according to law must be to build a government ruled by law. A government ruled by law is to use laws to regulate and restrain the government. Since the establishment of the new the State Council, adhering to administration according to law has been regarded as one of the three basic principles in the work of this government. In order to promote administration according to law more solidly and effectively, the State Council, on the basis of concentrating the wisdom of theoretical circles and practical departments, studied and formulated the "Implementation Outline for Comprehensively Promoting Administration according to Law", proposing that "after ten years of unremitting efforts, the goal of building a government ruled by law will be basically realized". Building a government ruled by law is an objective necessity of historical development and has its profound economic, political and social background.

(1) Building a government ruled by law is an objective need to seize and make good use of the important period of strategic opportunities and realize comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable economic and social development. Development is the top priority of governing and rejuvenating the country. This is a strategic idea that we must always adhere to. In order to achieve faster and better economic and social development, we must adhere to the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development concept. The first 20 years of this century is an important period of strategic opportunities that we must firmly grasp and make great achievements. The international situation is generally favorable to our country, and it is possible for us to strive for a long-term peaceful construction environment. China also has the conditions to accelerate its development. After years of unremitting efforts, the socialist market economic system has been initially established, providing a relatively solid material and technical foundation for achieving comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development. At the same time, the deepening of economic globalization and China's accession to the World Trade Organization also provide us with favorable opportunities to accelerate development. Under the new situation, in order to speed up development, especially the economy to a new level, we need to seriously study and solve four problems: first, reduce the administrative cost in economic activities; The second is to stimulate people's entrepreneurial enthusiasm to the maximum extent and build a social expectation that they can succeed as long as they work hard with various systems and mechanisms; The third is to break the monopoly formed by administrative management in order to allocate resources more reasonably and efficiently; Fourth, maintain a unified and fair market competition order, ensure that government decrees are unblocked, legitimate rights and interests are effectively protected, and illegal acts are punished in time. As far as the government is concerned, the most fundamental way to solve these problems is to change functions, reform the system, strictly govern the government and administer according to law. In a large developing country with relatively backward economy and culture, we have a large population and relatively scarce resources. Economic development needs to be further coordinated with the protection of resources and environment, and it is even more necessary to implement the rule of law and solve many problems and contradictions in development by strengthening the construction of the legal system. In short, in order to accelerate development and enrich the people and strengthen the country, we must take promoting administration according to law and building a government ruled by law as the basic and overall work of the government. In this sense, building a government ruled by law is an important strategic decision for comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable economic and social development.

(2) Building a government ruled by law is the inherent requirement of building a socialist political civilization. Public opinion ruling and legal ruling are the most common norms and laws of contemporary political rule. Therefore, the most fundamental thing in building socialist political civilization is to develop socialist democracy and improve the socialist legal system.

First, ensuring that our political power does not deteriorate or change color is the primary task of building socialist political civilization. In our country, the people are the masters of the country. It is determined by the nature of our country to protect the people's democratic rights as masters of their own affairs and to respect and protect human rights. If we can't straighten out the relationship between ourselves and the people and treat and use the power in our hands correctly, the public servants of the people may become the masters of the people, and the power of the people may be transformed into personal power, which will lead to bureaucracy, commandism and even domination of the masses, and will lead to negative corruption. Administrative power is essentially unequal, a public power that transcends individuals and a double-edged sword. It can be the most effective tool to safeguard public interests, or it may be the most serious means to infringe on citizens' personal rights. Like other powers, executive power is a kind of impersonal power. Its original intention is to collect, maintain and distribute public interests, and its subject should be impersonal in nature (this is different from rights, which should and must be personalized, so that the interests supporting rights can be obtained, distributed and maintained). However, in the process of operation, the executive power must be exercised by a specific person with conscious interest preference, so there is an instinctive tendency to personify. This tendency is that administrative power often becomes the main source of personal gain. To solve this problem, the most fundamental thing is to use laws and regulations to regulate and restrain administrative power, ensure that the establishment and operation of administrative power truly conforms to the will of the people, and truly "govern officials" and "govern power" according to law.

Second, improving the ruling ability and strengthening the government's own construction are important contents of building socialist political civilization. Government work involves many aspects of state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings and social affairs, with heavy tasks and high requirements. The government should not only maintain social order, improve management efficiency, safeguard national interests and public interests, and solve various problems in economic and social life in time, but also enforce the law fairly, respect and fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of the people. Administrative decisions and administrative decisions should be forward-looking and relatively stable, taking into account the social cost of administrative management. This requires us to speed up the innovation of government management concepts, management mechanisms and management methods, and constantly improve our ability to scientifically judge the situation, deal with complex situations, govern according to law and make overall plans and coordination. The most fundamental thing is to improve the ability to handle affairs according to law and the level of administration according to law. In short, in order to fulfill the duties entrusted to the government by the Constitution and laws, live up to the people's trust and the historical mission, we must obtain and exercise administrative power in strict accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations, and take it as the basis for improving the ruling ability and strengthening the government's own construction.

Third, resolving contradictions in time, properly handling disputes and creating a good environment for economic and social development are important links in building socialist political civilization. With the trend of social diversification, various social contradictions and disputes are complex and prominent. How to resolve conflicts in time and properly handle disputes is a long-term task that the government must take seriously. Contradictions can't be avoided, solved or blocked. The general requirements for the government to resolve conflicts and handle disputes are: risk dispersion, responsibility sharing, looking ahead and looking back, and timely handling. Experience has proved that only by solving disputes and contradictions on the track of legal system can we meet this requirement, make the settlement of disputes and contradictions more rational and predictable, and have fewer sequelae.

(3) Building a government ruled by law is an important symbol of social progress. Whether governing the country according to law or governing the country according to law is important, it not only plays an important role in promoting economic development and promoting the construction of political civilization, but also lies in that they are a part of people's lives and an important value pursued by mankind. People want to have a stable and rational expectation and a standard of right and wrong (criterion) that most people agree with and abide by when they work and live in society. This is the instinctive desire of human beings for norms. Moreover, in modern society, people's desire is more manifested in that they want to know how their government works for the public and how their legitimate rights and interests are inviolable when dealing with powerful public power. This is the humanistic basis for modern rule of law to pay attention to "power" and "official", and it is also the institutional guarantee for the sustainable development of modern civilization. Therefore, a civilized country and a progressive society must have a complete and well-executed legal system, which can truly regulate and restrict the acquisition and operation of public power.

Second, to build a government ruled by law, we must further deepen the reform of the administrative management system.

It is an important political responsibility of state administrative organs at all levels to conscientiously implement the tasks set forth in the Outline. At present, it is necessary to achieve solid results in deepening the reform of administrative management system, improving the quality of system construction, ensuring the implementation of laws, and improving the legal literacy of administrative personnel, especially leading cadres.

Further deepening the reform of administrative management system is the institutional guarantee for promoting administration according to law and building a government ruled by law. To this end, we need to pay close attention to four tasks:

First, transform government functions and implement the principle of "three priorities". The principle of "three priorities" is an important principle determined by the administrative licensing law. Its basic connotation is that any matter that citizens, legal persons and other organizations can solve independently, that can be adjusted by the market competition mechanism, and that can be solved by industry organizations or intermediaries through self-discipline cannot be solved by administrative organs. To implement the "three priorities" principle, we need to understand three issues first: (1) The people's government does not mean that everything for the people should be solved by the government through administrative management. (2) The government's insistence on taking economic construction as the center does not mean that the government should become an "economic man". In the relationship between the market and the government, the market is the first and the government is the second. Although some problems in the market sometimes need the government to go beyond the power of the market to solve, generally speaking, the government cannot override the market, let alone try to change the operating rules of the market. The government and government workers should be kind to all kinds of market players. (3) Social intermediary organizations solve some problems through self-discipline, which is more effective, cheaper, with less side effects and more affinity than the government through administrative power. Our government should vigorously cultivate intermediary organizations and overcome two "hold on": don't worry, don't let go.

Second, abide by the principle of trust protection. The principle of trust protection is an important foundation of modern constitutionalism, which mainly means that the information released by administrative organs must be comprehensive, accurate and true; Policies and decisions issued by administrative organs should remain relatively stable and cannot be achieved overnight; If it is really necessary to make changes, it shall give reasonable expectations to the counterpart as far as possible, and if it causes damage to the counterpart, the administrative organ shall compensate it according to law. To implement this principle, the government must be careful, thoughtful and cautious in thinking and doing things, and cannot break its word. To do this, there will be difficulties in practice and a certain price will be paid. However, responsibilities, risks and costs are inevitable. It is much better to disperse risks and solve contradictions separately than to accumulate risks and concentrate on solving contradictions. Therefore, in the final analysis, observing the principle of trust protection is an effective way to resolve risks and disperse responsibilities.

Third, openness and transparency. All policies and decisions that need to be known and implemented by ordinary people should be made public; Any policy that people care about and need to abide by should listen to their opinions more in the formulation and implementation. This is the guarantee to ensure scientific and reasonable decision-making, and it is the social basis for decision-making to be recognized and implemented by the people. There is also an open and transparent requirement that the information resources of administrative organs should be enjoyed as much as possible. This is the basis for establishing the authority of rules (from obeying organizations to obeying rules), overcoming departmental protectionism, streamlining institutions and improving administrative efficiency.

Fourth, innovate management methods. The current administrative management mode in China is mainly characterized by power-oriented management, which has the disadvantages of randomness, unpredictability, emphasis on command and great side effects. The advantages of rule-oriented management are relatively stable, standardized, predictable and few side effects. Its specific requirements are: between direct management and indirect management, indirect management should be emphasized; Between static management and dynamic management, the emphasis is on dynamic management; Between ex ante management and ex post management, ex post management should be emphasized. Between management and service, emphasize service. In short, the rule-oriented management model requires the characteristics of indirectness, selectivity and negotiation. If the government management mode embodies this feature, it will minimize the problems caused by improper management mode.

Third, to build a government ruled by law, we must improve the quality of system construction, including legislation.

(a) a scientific understanding of the system construction. System construction is a science. System construction is the power activity of state organs and has the general characteristics of power; However, it is different from the general state power. It belongs to the category of decision-making power and has the general characteristics and theoretical basis of decision-making. Epistemologically speaking, system construction is a cognitive activity, and the process of system construction is a cognitive process. To carry out and study the system construction, we must be good at understanding and grasping the basic laws and internal laws of system construction.

First, the system construction is the unity of subjective and objective. This is the epistemological premise to understand and grasp the law of system construction. Fundamentally speaking, the system is a reflection of people's subjective perception. On the one hand, the system is formulated according to people's subjective understanding, and the quality of a system has a great relationship with the understanding level and ability of the system builders. On the other hand, the social relations (problems to be solved) adjusted by the system exist objectively. Therefore, the system construction must proceed from reality, conduct in-depth investigation and study to master first-hand materials, not from books and concepts, nor from local dogmas or foreign dogmas.

Second, system construction is the unity of necessity and reality. Inevitably refers to what the established system should look like, and reality refers to what the established system actually looks like. Requirements of system construction: the established system must conform to the essence and laws of things, and must conform to people's original value pursuit and have a recognized moral foundation. Realistic requirements of system construction: all systems should meet the needs and possibilities of objective reality, and some requirements that are not available or too high at present should be avoided in system construction, otherwise the established system will not work, and the contradiction between the necessity and reality of system construction in the reform period is very prominent. Ideal and reality are a pair of eternal contradictions, and it is this contradiction that makes the system constantly develop and improve. Therefore, to do a good job in system construction, we must be good at finding problems and contradictions. On the one hand, we should strive to realize the scientific nature of system construction and make the system conform to the essence, law and development direction of things; On the other hand, due to the lack of practical experience, people's understanding of some issues is still difficult to unify, so they can temporarily make no provisions and make supplements when conditions are ripe.

Third, system construction is the unity of universality and particularity. The social phenomenon regulated by the system is complex. To do a good job in system construction, we must first be good at comprehensively analyzing and grasping complex social realities and cases, so as to abstract universally applicable laws from them. Secondly, there are exceptions to any general rule, and exceptions should be properly stipulated when establishing general rules to maintain the applicability of the system. Third, when studying and determining rules, we should distinguish right from wrong on major issues of principle, have a clear attitude and dare to stick to it. At the same time, we should pay attention to taking care of various specific situations and different opinions, and deal with various contradictions flexibly with a pragmatic attitude.

Fourth, system construction is the unity of democracy and centralization. Only by planning more can we make good decisions, and embodying the wisdom of most people is the performance of institutional superiority. We should fully listen to the opinions of all parties, especially the opinions of grassroots units, grassroots people and grassroots people. Concentration is mainly to concentrate all opinions on the party's line, principles and policies.

(two) to understand and master the standards for measuring the quality of system construction. The standard to measure the quality of system construction is a complex dynamic system. From the actual situation, this system should at least include the following aspects: (1) Conforming to the statutory authority and procedures, and maintaining the unity of the legal system. "If the law is unfair, that's not good." Legislation should strictly abide by the Constitution and the superior law to avoid fragmentation and contradiction. (2) Follow and reflect the laws of economic and social development, including the laws of things regulated by the system, and serve the liberation and development of productive forces. It is necessary to prevent some legal norms from becoming a rope that affects or even hinders the development of productive forces and hinders the increase of social wealth. (three) adhere to the people-oriented, give full play to the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of citizens, legal persons and other organizations. Any system should be conducive to promoting people's all-round development and be recognized by most people, not the other way around. This is the social basis for the implementation of the system and its full play. (4) The content of the system is specific, clear and operable, which can effectively solve practical problems; Internal logic should be strict, and the language should be standardized, concise and accurate.

(3) Measures to improve the quality of system construction.

First, proceed from reality, highlight key points and scientifically arrange legislative projects. What legislation should proceed from reality, sum up practical experience and grasp the laws of legislation. It is necessary to coordinate the development of urban and rural areas, regions, economy and society, man and nature, domestic development and opening up. While continuing to strengthen economic regulation and market supervision legislation, we should pay more attention to social management and public service legislation. Need to be clear: the system is to solve problems, but the problems to be solved must exist objectively, not subjectively; It must be cyclical, not accidental; Must be universal, not individual. For matters that need institutional adjustment, "legislation at that time" is also needed. Special attention should be paid to not resorting to the system in everything, especially the legal system, to avoid excessive intervention by the law in society.

Second, sum up experience, grasp the law and ensure the scientific nature of the system. System construction is a scientific and regular work. Only on the basis of summing up practical experience and grasping the law can the quality of system construction be guaranteed. Therefore, it is necessary to properly handle the following relations: (1) Correctly handle the relationship between public interests and citizens' legitimate rights and interests. System construction must safeguard the interests of the public, so as to fundamentally safeguard the best interests of the overwhelming majority of people. At the same time, we should also pay attention to safeguarding citizens' legitimate rights and interests and realize the balance between public interests and citizens' legitimate rights and interests. To this end, we must earnestly safeguard all legitimate labor income and legitimate non-labor income, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of people from all walks of life who have contributed to the prosperity of the motherland. Establishing this concept should not be interfered by the system as long as it does not harm the public interests and the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. (2) Correctly handle the relationship between power and responsibility. Responsibility is the core of administrative power. While giving the administrative organs the necessary administrative power, the system must stipulate their corresponding responsibilities and have strict procedures to ensure it. Only in this way can we truly standardize and restrain administrative power, ensure the unity of power and responsibility, ensure that the right must be responsible, the right to use is supervised, violations are investigated and infringement is compensated. (3) Correctly handle the relationship between coercion and guidance. To build socialist political civilization, we need to pay special attention to the guiding role of the system. To this end, our system construction should focus on providing a rule for people to judge right and wrong, take risks and assign responsibilities to solve problems. It is necessary to encourage and guide market players to regulate and restrain their behavior in the form of autonomy such as contracts, and to stimulate their enthusiasm and creativity. (4) Correctly handle the relationship between being based on reality and reform and innovation. At present, we are in the transition period between the old and new systems, and it will not work if the system construction ignores reality; If we affirm the reality indiscriminately, it may hinder the reform. Therefore, system construction should be based on reality, focus on the future, closely combine system decision-making with reform decision-making, embody the spirit of reform, and guide, promote and guarantee the smooth progress of reform with the system. We should affirm what is reasonable in reality in time and take measures to promote its development; Don't blindly accommodate things that are unreasonable, declining and hinder the development of productive forces. In a word, system construction should be explored on the basis of summing up practical experience and strive to innovate in system, mechanism and system. (5) Correctly handle the relationship between entities and procedures. Both entities and procedures are important and complement each other. At present, the system construction should change the phenomenon of attaching importance to entity and neglecting procedure. Efforts should be made to study how to limit the exercise of power and ensure the realization of rights through setting procedures.

Third, improve working methods and mechanisms to further enhance public participation in system construction. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the following systems: (1) public consultation and hearing system. The guarantee system can well reflect the opinions of the masses, especially the grassroots, and it is also the basis for the good implementation of the guarantee system. (2) Cost-benefit analysis system. The cost here is mainly the cost required for system implementation. (3) Expert consultation system. (4) Dispute coordination system. (5) Regular cleaning system. The system aims to eliminate contradictions and conflicts between systems in time and improve the adaptability of the system.

Four, to build a government ruled by law, we must straighten out the law enforcement system and ensure the implementation of the law.

The smooth implementation of the law generally depends on three conditions: (1) the law itself is a good law; (2) Having a relatively sound law enforcement mechanism; (three) the social foundation conducive to law enforcement. Among them, a good implementation mechanism is the key to ensure the implementation of the law. Theoretically speaking, the expected income of the law is objectively decreasing to the actual income. Because there are costs in every link of law enforcement, the payment of costs often leads to diminishing returns. The main task of law enforcement mechanism is to ensure that the diminishing returns of the law are minimized by integrating various costs (paying necessary costs and reducing or even canceling unnecessary costs). Our current law enforcement system often pays attention to the establishment of institutions rather than the protection of institutions, including the protection of personnel and funds, and the construction of legal operation mechanism. Therefore, without the system, the legal interests will be reduced, and sometimes even faster with the system. Because the mechanism is not smooth, we often find countermeasures from increasing personnel, which is bound to increase the cost of legal operation; Without financial guarantee, law enforcement officers often have to enforce the law at their own expense, or even engage in "law enforcement and protection." As far as the administrative organs are concerned, to ensure the implementation of the law, it is necessary to straighten out the system, improve the mechanism, and do the following work well:

The first is to deepen the reform of the administrative law enforcement system. The general requirements for establishing the administrative law enforcement system are: clear rights and responsibilities, standardized behavior, effective supervision and strong guarantee. (1) relatively concentrate the power of administrative law enforcement, and strive to change the situation that "big caps" are flying all over the sky; At present, we should continue to carry out the work of relatively centralized administrative punishment power, actively explore the relatively centralized administrative licensing power, and promote the comprehensive law enforcement pilot. (2) reduce the level of administrative law enforcement and change the situation of "rough up and down" in administrative law enforcement. At present, we can consider appropriately shifting the focus of law enforcement. Administrative law enforcement activities directly related to people's daily life and production are mainly implemented by administrative organs at the city and county levels. The law enforcement functions of administrative organs at lower and higher levels should be decomposed. Grass-roots administrative law enforcement organs focus on solving factual problems, while higher administrative law enforcement organs focus on solving legal problems. (3) The power of administrative law enforcement should be completely decoupled from the interests of law enforcers, and the law enforcement funds should be guaranteed. (4) Strive to build a high-quality and honest law enforcement team.

Second, the administrative organs must exercise their powers and perform their duties in strict accordance with the statutory authority and procedures. Disorderly law enforcement and non-law enforcement are the most prominent problems in current administrative law enforcement. Administrative law enforcement organs at all levels must neither neglect their duties nor exceed their powers, and act in strict accordance with procedures. It is necessary to overcome the disadvantages of "sports-style" law enforcement and correct the phenomenon that leaders only give instructions but do not enforce the law, and leaders do not give instructions and do not enforce the law. It is necessary to enforce the law fairly, treat the parties equally and not abuse their powers. In the process of law enforcement, the parties and interested parties should be guaranteed the right to know, participate and remedy according to law.

Third, establish and improve the qualification system of administrative law enforcement subject. Administrative law enforcement is an important administrative power, which should be implemented by administrative organs within the scope of statutory functions and powers. Organizations that are not administrative organs shall not exercise administrative law enforcement power without the authorization of laws and regulations. The implementation of administrative law enforcement personnel qualification system, without obtaining the qualification of law enforcement personnel shall not engage in administrative law enforcement work.

Fourth, improve the evaluation system of administrative law enforcement files. This is an important measure to ensure the implementation of the law. The core of this system is: true records, archiving and public access. Decisions on administrative punishment, administrative license, administrative coercion, and supervision and inspection of relevant citizens, legal persons and other organizations must be kept and signed, and relevant evidential materials, law enforcement documents and relevant records must be filed. Archived files can be made public when necessary for relevant personnel to consult in accordance with regulations. This is conducive to enhancing the sense of historical responsibility of administrative law enforcement personnel, and urging law enforcement personnel to be conscientious and act according to law in the process of law enforcement.

Fifth, strengthen the supervision of administrative law enforcement. (1) Carry out the administrative law enforcement responsibility system, and actively explore the performance evaluation and reward and punishment methods of administrative law enforcement. (2) Strengthen the supervision of administrative reconsideration. (3) Strengthen special supervision such as supervision and auditing. (four) to strengthen social supervision, improve the system of reporting violations by the masses, and attach great importance to the supervision of public opinion. (5) Strictly implement the system of administrative compensation and compensation.

Five, to build a government ruled by law, we must make great efforts to improve the legal literacy of administrative personnel.

The legal literacy of administrative staff, especially leading cadres, is related to the process of administration according to law, to the image of administrative organs, to whether the exercise of administrative power conforms to the wishes of the people, to the cultivation of legal awareness of the whole society, and to the process of democracy and legal system construction. Objectively speaking, the improvement of legal literacy is a long process, especially in a country with more feudal traditions and less democratic and legal traditions. At present, to cultivate the legal literacy of administrative staff, we need to grasp the following points: (1) We should master legal knowledge, including constitution and constitutional legal knowledge, standardize the legal knowledge of administrative staff, and engage in professional legal knowledge. With this knowledge, the staff of administrative organs can know where their power comes from. Where is the power boundary? (2) It is necessary to raise legal awareness and cultivate the belief and loyalty of the staff of administrative organs to the law. Law is not only a tool to solve problems, but also an integral part of people's pursuit of a better life. In our country, the administrative personnel's faith in the law is their faith in the party and the people, and their loyalty to the law is their loyalty to the party and the people. (3) to cultivate legal thinking and ability, so that the staff of administrative organs can use legal thinking to study the situation, analyze problems and propose solutions to problems. Legal thinking is a way of thinking that weighs advantages and disadvantages, looks forward and takes care of others. This way of thinking should not only consider solving the immediate problems, but also bury hidden dangers for the future; We should not only consider the effect of solving practical problems, but also consider the cost; We should not only consider the interests of the parties concerned, but also the interests and losses of other relevant personnel. The more urgent the situation is and the problems are prominent, the more it is necessary to use legal thinking and legal means to solve the problems, which is a sign of the higher ability of the staff of an administrative organ.