Policy-making plays an important role in a country's political life. It is closely connected with administrative and economic efficiency, determines the level of the public's political participation and affects political stability.

The biggest problem in China's current policy-making lies in its willfulness. Policies and personnel change frequently, with no accompanying continuity. Shortcomings in policy-making have caused enormous damage to the country.

Besides the poor quality of some policy-decisions, lack of solid institutional foundations, including policy-making consulting, hearings, assessments and a system of responsibility is the major reason for the flaws.

In a modern society in which labor is increasingly apportioned according to specialization, the job of policy-makers should be selecting strategies mapped out by experts, rather than formulating policy themselves. Establishment of a brain trust, or policy-making consulting system composed of experts in various fields, would be a good start. Such a system would serve as a bridge between policy-making bodies and professionals, and as a conduit for experts and scholars to better serve the government.

Currently there are about a million high-level intellectuals in China, including scientists, engineers and professors. Many of them not only have professional expertise but are also anxious to participate in the discussion and management of governmental affairs. An independent consulting system composed of these experts would greatly facilitate official policy-making.

The policy hearings should be attended by experts and those the policies may affect before and after their issuance. A system based on that principle would first ensure the rationality of the policies and avoid major loopholes. The hearings would also be a democratic process, making policies that represent the interests of the majority of the people they affect.

Last but not least, rooting out problems and adjusting policies to resolve them in a timely manner would be a huge benefit to the nation.

Some government departments and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress have adopted such practices and achieved good results in recent years.

Laws and regulations should be drafted to legalize the hearing process of law-making, policy-making and supervision.

Rational assessment of policies is important in scientific and democratic policy-making too. Objective assessment according to certain standards could help quantify experiences and lessons. Assessment by a third party is equally essential. Policy-makers have their own interest preferences and partialities, so independent evaluation of their strategies is crucial. The absence of a non-governmental policy-assessing system undermines scientific and democratic policy-making in this country.

But there is also good news.

The Comparative Political and Economic Research Center of the Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and the Center for Research of World Political Parties at the Central Party School have initiated a "China Local Government Innovation Award." Ten winners and 10 runners-up were selected from 320 innovative projects by local governments under county level according to six criteria: creativity, voluntary participation, social benefit, significance, cost-effectiveness and transferability.

These marked the first non-governmental awards on government innovations in China and serve as an excellent example. Such non-governmental actions should be encouraged to promote an independent policy-assessing system.

A responsibility system is also needed to ensure scientific and democratic policy-making. Policy-makers should be accountable for what they implement, and such responsibilities should be guaranteed by law. Serious faults in policy-making should be punishable by fines, demotion, or even criminal prosecution. Some current responsibility systems in China either go without punishment for faults or become vetoes of the top leaders - practices which are neither scientific nor democratic.

In sum, institutional foundations are vital for formulating scientific and democratic policy-making. Efforts should be made to build up complete systems of consulting, hearings, assessments and responsibility to facilitate the strengthening of China's political infrastructure.

(China Daily February 2, 2004)