Abstract：The state is a fundamental concept in social science, but China and the West have different understandings of what is “state” in terms of public power. In the West, “state” is equivalent to public authority, including the legislative, executive, and judicial institutions. However, state in China is composite and unique, which is a unified whole in the form of a constitution and party. The government of the compound state, the general government, not only includes the institutions of the state in the sense of the Constitution but also the Party. As the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and local Party committees at all levels also assume public responsibilities and exercise public power, these Party organizations objectively have the nature of the state and integrate with the state institutions in the sense of the Constitution into an organic entirety, constituting the true government with Chinese characteristics. The objective difference in the concept of the state makes it difficult for the state theory of the West to accurately explain the Chinese phenomenon. A comprehensive understanding of China should not come entirely from the Western social science system. Perhaps understanding differences and combining reality is a more important theoretical approach to understanding China. To clarify the characteristics of China’s “state”, we offer a comparative framework containing three dimensions—the environment of the system, the power configuration, and the power operation process. Ten aspects are compared, including economic base, political attitude, relationship between state and society, horizontal & vertical power structure, internal separation of power system, source of legitimacy, representation way, selecting officials, and modes of controlling power. These give a comprehensive understanding of the government in China—the general government. The theory of the general government builds a set of national theories that reflect the objective reality of China. On the one hand, it can have a dialogue with Western social sciences. On the other hand, it can be used to guide the practice of Chinese modernization construction. In theory, the composite state and the general government reflect what is the real state and government in China, which is a knowledge system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese localization. The comparison between China and the United States is helpful for an objective understanding of the structure and dynamic operation of public power in the context of China. The pursuit of building a productive government is an obvious external feature of the broad sense of government, while the dual attributes of party and state are an internal feature of the broad sense of government. From the perspective of practice, the theory of general government has a strong guiding significance for promoting the modernization of national governance capacity and governance system. Specifically, having a view on government power does not mean that the government can always play a positive role. Effective measures must be taken to control power, balance the two values of efficiency and power limitation, and deal with the tension between the attributes of the state and the party in a broad sense so that the state power can better serve modernization.
陈国权, 原桂楠. 中国“国家”的特性：基于中美国家体制的比较分析[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2023, 53(9): 73-85.
Chen Guoquan, Yuan Guinan. State Characteristics of China: A Comparative Analysis Based on Chinese and American State Systems. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2023, 53(9): 73-85.
2023, Vol. 53 
