ABSTRACT
Constitutional socialism has become a theory in China in recent years and has rallied support from influential scholars in political, legal, economic, and philosophical fields, such as Jiang Ping, Cai Dingjian, Wang Changjinag, Guo Daohui, Li Weiguang, and Hua Bingxiao. This chapter explores constitutional socialism in the context of China's economic reform and the global crisis of communism since 1980. It traces the evolution of the theory and its main proposals for China's political reform, such as to democratize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to reform the National People's Congress, to practice intraparty or interparty pluralism, and to combine people's sovereignty with the CCP leadership. Legal scholar Guo argues that civil society has the right and the ability to participate in state and public affairs. Constitutional socialism emphasizes the constitutional rule of the ruling party and thus points to a direction for the political reform in Laos.
