From social management to social governance: discourse change and policy adjustment

Since 1999, there has been continuous discussion and exploration among academic circles in China on the concepts of governance, good governance, and social governance advocating cooperative management of public affairs by multiple entities, such as state and society, government and citizen. Since 2004, the ruling party and government has gradually accepted concepts in social governance, provided policy space and opportunity for social cooperation and public participation in social management mechanism, and accepted the concept of ‘social governance’ in the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (hereafter called CPC) Central Committee (hereafter called Party Congress) in 2013. In the same time frame in accepting the concept of social governance, the CPC has been continuously adjusting its policy in social management. Since the Fourth Plenary session of the 16th Party Congress, government policies on social construction and management have been increasingly broadened and enriched; development of social organizations, community construction, professional development for social workers and volunteer service system have gained more policy encouragement and resources support. All of these reveal that the Chinese Communist Party has strong learning capability and good adaptability, being good at adapting its ideology and policy according to situational changes. On the other hand, the CPC has a strong level of autonomy and conservatism; while absorbing the external successful experiences and lessons, it insists on its leadership position and the leading role of government as well as its bottom line in reformation.