Abstract

The characteristics of the Chinese socialist law are not favorable for the affirmation of the principles of popular participation in administrative and regulatory procedures. However, recent innovations in the law and in the practice of decentralized administrative bodies have introduced public consultation institutions into administrative procedures. This could lead not only to a local diffusion of these institutes, but also to their central reception. In this direction, useful contributions may also come from the Confucian political thought, regarding the relations between governors and governed.