The Rule of Law Model of Internet Governance

The rule of law is the basic form of national governance and the rule of law model is the necessary direction for the governance of online society.Online society is in essence a new pattern of social relationships and structural forms comprising relationships among citizens,legal persons,organizational bodies,etc.,formed and brought together on the basis of Internet technology;and also a reflection,expansion and expression,singly or in synthesis,of various relationships in the fields of the real economy,politics,culture,society and the environment.The rule of law model of Internet governance refers to governance theories,systems and practices that employ rule of law thinking and the rule of law model to bring the elements,structures,procedures and functions of Internet governance into the scope of the rule of law and its operational track.Reviewing the tortuous course of the development of rule of law Internet governance in China,summarizing useful experience in the construction of rule of law Internet governance,and reflecting on existing legislative,law enforcement and judicial dilemmas will enable us to build up a rule of law system of online governance with comprehensive norms,effective implementation,strict supervision and strong guarantees.This will be marked by Chinese characteristics and will ensure the application of rule of law thinking and the rule of law model in governing,operating,using and safeguarding the Internet,thus achieving sound and orderly Internet operation and development along the path of the rule of law and advancing the modernization of the Internet governance system and governance capability.

SPECIAL ISSUE： RULE OF LAW--CHINA AND THE WORLD International Law as the Law of Domestic Governance： China＇s Propositions and Institutional Practice

Like domestic law, international law can be used in domestic governance, where it can become an important instrument assisting China＇s Party and government to rule the country and manage state affairs. Incorporating part of international law into domestic law and comprehensively advancing the rule of law in accord with the principle of national sovereignty demonstrate the openness and international vision of China＇s rule of law construction. Translating these propositions into concrete institutional practice will be of vital significance for improving the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, advancing the international rule of law and promoting world peace.

Promoting the Modernization of China’s Governance System and Capacity in Line with the Rule of Law

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC)held in 2012,XI Jinping,General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee,has made a series of vital expositions on the promotion of modernization of the national governance system and capacity in line with the rule of law.The law is the most important tool for governing a country,and the rule of law supports the national governance process and capacity.Promoting the rule of law on all fronts is an essential requirement for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and capacity.Comprehensive law-based governance in all areas should be promoted to advance the modernization of national governance.Furthermore,law-based thinking and methods should be used to address difficulties and challenges faced in this modernization process.

How to Evaluate Government Performance While Constructing a Rule of Law Government in China＊

Constructing a law-based government is a core element of the comprehensive framework for promoting the rule of law in China, while using evaluation to catalyze growth is in line with the incentive principle of management studies. Since China started to implement reform and opening up over thirty years ago, rule of law development and organizational evaluation have gone through several stages, each with different characteristics. Efforts to build a law-based government have met with success, but what the country now has is essentially still goal-oriented assessment. At present, this suffers from the lack of a clear goal orientation or definition of functions, an imperfect technical system and unsound motivation mechanisms, not to mention the practical problems of each government department going its own way, duplicating evaluations or being left rudderless. Drawing on a combination of value rationality and instrumental rationality and using government performance evaluation to promote the building of a law-based government not only conforms to the spirit of the rule of law and value rationality in government performance, but also strengthens the role of evaluation as an instrument for organizational management. Therefore, we need to create new evaluation theories, expand public participation, introducing diversified evaluating entities, improve technical systems, strengthen institutional buildup, and foster a performance-based culture. In addition, replacing goal-oriented assessment with performance evaluation will help the emergence of a new discipline--the performance evaluation of rule of law government, thus promoting multidisciplinary efforts to integrate and create new public administration theories in China.