Understanding the Five Dimensions of the Basic Values of the Constitution: Reshaping the Conceptual Basis of Constitutional Governance Author: Ren Xirong?

Summary:?

"To uphold the rule of law, we must first uphold the rule of law", and the implementation of China's constitution and constitutional theory are receiving unprecedented attention.

Because citizens' general concept of the constitution has not yet been truly formed, and the system of implementing and supervising the constitution is not yet perfect, China's constitutional authority is far from being established.

It is necessary to analyze the basic values of the Constitution from the dimensions of political democracy, the dimension of rule of law and order, the dimension of public life, the dimension of individual rights, and the dimension of the interests of future generations, so as to determine the ultimate direction of China

"Governing the country according to the constitution" provides theoretical support for the cultivation of citizens' constitutional concepts and the formation of China's constitutional culture.

The life of the Constitution lies in its implementation, and only citizens with the spirit of the Constitution can become a great force for promoting the implementation of the Constitution.

Keywords: governing the country according to the constitution; political democracy; rule of law and order; public life; individual rights; In October 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China deliberated and adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"), which emphasized: "To uphold the rule of law, we must first adhere to the Constitution, and to uphold the rule of law, we must first adhere to the Constitution. "The Theses clearly state the fundamental legal status of the Constitution in our country's legal system and the primacy of governing the country according to the Constitution over the rule of law.

However, China's constitutional authority is far from being established, and the general constitutional concept of citizens has not really been formed.

In recent years, constitutional scholars have been calling for

"Take the text of the Constitution seriously", argues

"In the construction of a country under the rule of law, people recognize the importance of the constitution on the surface, but in actual life, the constitutional text has not received enough attention, and disrespecting and despising the constitutional text seems to have become a common phenomenon and tendency in our society"[1], stressed

"China's reform has reached the stage of 'crossing the river by feeling the constitution'"[2]. In the context of comprehensively advancing the rule of law and building a socialist country under the rule of law, it is necessary to go through analysis

"How to understand the basic values of the Constitution" is a topic of the times, which is the ultimate direction for China

"Governing the country according to the constitution" provides theoretical support for the cultivation of citizens' constitutional concepts and the formation of China's constitutional culture.

In his book Why the Constitution Matters, Mark Tuchnett, a representative of critical jurisprudence in the United States, tried to guide the American legal scholars and the American people from the following

"The Constitution is important because it protects our fundamental rights" comes out of the perspective of traditional judicial review, and reinterprets the value of the U.S. Constitution from the perspective of democracy

"The Constitution is important because it provides a structure for our politics"[3]1. The political constitutionalism that has emerged in China in recent years is also not satisfactory to constitutional interpretation and normative constitutionalism

"Interpret or study China's constitutional texts solely on the basis of constitutional provisions and the normatism of Western constitutional law"[4]6, but advocate that "China's constitutional law should face up to the people's sovereignty in modern China and grasp the fundamental relationship between the people, the party and the constitution implied in it"/article/?

id=11377[4]5。 This enlightens us that the importance of the Constitution can be discussed from multiple dimensions.

The author believes that as a qualified modern citizen, we should understand the value of the Constitution at least from the dimensions of political democracy, the dimension of rule of law and order, the dimension of public life, the dimension of individual rights, and the dimension of the interests of future generations, so as to create a strong constitutional cultural atmosphere in the whole society, carry forward the spirit of the Constitution, and provide a conceptual and cultural foundation for the comprehensive realization of governing the country according to the Constitution.

"Dimension", in the field of physics and philosophy, refers to the number of independent space-time coordinates, and in the field of social science, it usually refers to the independent but interrelated multi-directional, multi-angle, and multi-level research horizons.

The author uses the concept of dimension to illustrate that the value of the Constitution should be understood from the different perspectives of social development to achieve the most comprehensive understanding of the Constitution.

The different dimensions show different aspects of constitutional values, which are closely related and do not distinguish between superior and inferior values.

1. The Dimension of Political DemocracyThe Constitution is the legal marker of modern democracies, and the comprehensive legalization of the democratic system has been realized through the Constitution.

Professor Akhil Reed Amar of Yale Law School in the United States likened the U.S. Constitution to:

The "Acropolis of the New World" was seen by the world in the 80s of the 18th century

The product of the "most democratic act". [5]5 Following the U.S. Constitution, the victory of the French Revolution ushered in the beginning of the Constitution on the European continent, and the Constitution became a legal symbol of democracies throughout the world.

In the first half of the 20th century, China suffered great disasters and changed political power several times, but it was also the period when China's constitution was most active, and it was also the period when China's democratic revolution was most fierce and finally chose the path of socialist democracy.

On September 20, 1954, China's first socialist constitution was born, realizing the constitutionalization of the socialist democratic political system.

The current Constitution was promulgated and implemented on December 4, 1982, and is the result of the legalization of the socialist democratic political system with Chinese characteristics.

Democracy is a great victory over autocracy. As an achievement of the rule of law in a democratic society, the constitution comprehensively defines the relationship between a country's democratic political system and provides the possibility of regulating citizens' democratic participation.

(1) A comprehensive definition of democratic political system relations means that the constitution rather than other laws comprehensively define the democratic political relations of a country, thus providing a stable political framework for the operation of state power.

"Starting from the jurisprudence of legislators, we first focus on how the law constructs national sovereignty and establishes the political order of the country, which must consider the fundamental law of the country - the Constitution." [6]7 The ownership of sovereignty, the emergence of democratic representative organs, the relationship between the legislative, executive, and judicial organs, and the allocation of power between the central and local governments can all be found in the Constitution.

Articles 1 to 3 of China's current constitution stipulate the nature of the socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship and the basic power relations under the people's congress system, which can be said to clearly define the mutual relationship between the constitution and democracy.

In other parts of the Constitution, we can see not only the system of special administrative regions, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the multi-party leadership of the Communist Party of China