Promoting Moral Governance Through Legislation:Mandatory Enforcement or Self-Discipline?—A Case Study of Local Legislation on Promoting Civilized Behavior
In times of rapid changes in civilization,moral norms are inevitably undergoing dramatic changes.As the social life is changing,with the appearance of cultural lag due to cultural inertia and conservatism,it becomes necessary for the government to promote moral development.In the process of advancing Chinese modernization,as rural life is transformed into urban life,and agricultural civilization is transitioned into industrial civilization,some outdated customs and moral norms have not adapted to the needs of new social life,while new customs and moral norms have not yet been fully established.During such changes,the regulatory effect of traditional moral governance is weakening,and the campaign-style moral governance is emerging.Due to the lack of sustainability and standardization in the campaign-style govemance,promoting moral governance through legislation shows its governance advan-tages in terms of moral guidance,long-term mechanisms,external constraints,and guiding moral develop-ment.Nevertheless,the mandatory promotion of moral development through legislation not only has its limitations such as failing to enhance moral awareness and cultivate non-normative morality but also has difficulties such as the unclear boundaries of mandatory enforcement in the legislation,conflicts arising from diverse moral concepts,and cost constraints of law enforcement.In the face of the limitations and difficulties of mandatory moral development while it should not be left unchecked,a third way is the regulations on promoting civilized behavior adopted by the local people's congress.That is,moral gover-nance is promoted through moderate legislation mainly in the form of education,which is manifested as specifying objectives,paving the way,government promotion,and flexible approaches.The positioning of civilized behavior promotion act should transcend the dilemma of mandatory enforcement and self-discipline,and social civilized behavior should be promoted by downplaying mandatory enforce-ment,strengthening govemance,and adopting education-oriented approaches for the purpose of achieving self-discipline.
moral governancelegislationregulation on promoting civilized behaviorcultural-ethical advancement
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