Hosted by the Institute for China & World Studies and the School of Political Science & International Relations (SPSIR) of Tongji University, theTongji Serial Lectures on Social Sciences No.30 was successfully held in the Lecture Hall on the 10th floor of Zhonghe Building on November 12, 2020. Prof. Tong Dezhi, Dean of the College of Politics and Public Administration at Tianjin Normal University, a Young Changjiang Scholar and a distinguished scholar of the Changjiang Scholars Program, a member of the 8th Appraisal Group for Political Science of the State Council, and a member of the National Political Science Education Steering Committee, and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Political Science, was specially invited to give a keynote speech entitled “Governance Absorbs Democracy – Theory and Practice of Democratic Governance in the Contemporary World”. This lecture was moderated by Tongji Distinguished Professor Men Honghua, President of the Institute for China & World Studies, Dean of SPSIR, and Director of Tongji Center for Research on International Cyberspace Governance.

Prof. Tong delivered this lecture in five aspects: “practical dilemma”, “theoretical reflection”, “internal logic”, “viewpoint summary” and “extended discussion”. First of all, he explained the predictability of political science and pointed out that political science can be used to explain why the general trend of people’s love and yearning for democracy will not change. Then, he used the question “what is democracy” as a hypothesis to guide the audience to think about the nature and characteristics of democracy.

Next, in combination of his own experience of studying abroad, Prof. Tong used three cases to introduce the democratic dilemma of governance: North Korea’s strategy of no reform or opening up has caused the country to lag behind; Russia’s unreasonable reform has slowed down its economy; and the democratic India is suffering from its governance failure. Based on the above, he raised his own point of view: there is a paradox between democracy and governance. Governance does not necessarily require democracy, while democracy does not necessarily lead to better governance. Then, Prof. Tong answered the question of “what is democracy”, and at the same time he put forward the bottom-line understanding of democracy: first, “people” at the principal position; second, “democratic dictatorship” as the method; third, majority decision; and fourth,people’s sovereignty. These four elements are integral and they draw the bottom line of democracy.

Finally, Prof. Tong said that the introduction of the democratic concept is crucial to the development of governance theory. The integration of the governance concept with the democratic concept has given birth to the theory and practice of democratic governance. It is possible for governance to absorb democracy given their integration in terms of content, goal, subject, procedure, mechanism and value. Based on this premise, Prof. Tong further talked about the possibility of “democracy infiltrating into governance” and “governance absorbing democracy”, and combining the two to generate synergistic effects according to political practices is not only a keynote of political practices for mankind, but also a basic theme of the study of political science.

In the Q&A session, Prof. Sun Lei and Prof. Yu Minjiang from the Department of Political Science of SPSIR spoke highly of Prof. Tong’s lecture and asked questions on “pandemic governance” and “environment governance”. Students present also asked their questions. Prof. Tong’s careful and humorous answers won him rounds of applause.

In closing, Dean Men first thanked Prof. Tong for giving such a wonderful lecture on political science in a professional yet relaxed manner, enabling the students and teachers to feel the charm of theory and the demeanor of a famous teacher. Dean Men pointed out that when the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, China is also changing significantly, with its development influencing the world. How to look at China’s position in the world and judge the present and future of China from a political perspective is a fundamental issue for us to explore. Prof. Tong’s thought-provoking lecture has helped us see the plight of Western democracy vs. the advantages of China’s governance, enabling us to have more confidence in the Chinese system.