Abstract

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Abstract:: Socialist consultative democracy is the innovation and development of socialist democracy, showing a unique theoretical posture. Viewed from the perspective of the political concept it contains, consultative democracy is a new category and a new expression of socialist democracy, showing the following three characteristics:taking dialogue as the medium for consultation, it presents a new type of verbal political action featuring “doing things with words”; by spreading public consultation into the legislative and public decision making spheres, it displays the consultative nature of modern governance; and through public consultation, it seeks the common ground in such areas as obligation, knowledge, and interests among the different social groups. Viewed from the perspective of origin, consultative democracy emerged together with electoral democracy and both have undergone the same path:from practical exploration to theoretical research to institutional construction, starting from the political sphere and then branching in the same direction into the two spheres of state and society. Viewed from the perspective of internal spirit, the collectivism entailed by holism and the principle of unity provides value support for the formation and development of socialist consultative democracy.