Implementing the Grassroots Democracy: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives

Abstract

The implementation of democracy at the grassroots level is a method to promote the people’s rights in Vietnam. It is essentially the execution of the motto “people know, people discuss, people undertake, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit” with the key role of the political system. In this regard, the principle that “the Party leads, the State manages, the People masters” plays an important part. From theoretical and practical perspectives, the paper examines the issues of implementing grassroots democracy. It also employs data collected by the national survey on the provincial governance and public administration efficiency index (PAPI) to assess the current situation of the implementation. The analysis results show that the development of appropriate mechanisms and proactive participation of the people in decision-making process are vital determinants of grassroots democracy. Policy recommendations include strengthening the Party’s leadership and the state’s role of management, building a team of state cadres with quality, morality, fairness in performing public tasks, improving the quality and efficiency, enhancing publicity and transparency, diversifying the format and mechanism of receiving critical opinions from the people, transferring from formal democracy to substantive democracy at the grassroots.