Social Consultative Conferences
In Menghe, the Social Consultative Conferences (Gomun: 社會協議會, Sinmun: 사회 협의회, pr. Sahoe Hyŏbyihoue, often abbreviated SCCs in Anglian-language literature) are a hierarchical set of quasi-legislative bodies which advise the Menghean government on policy issues. They exist at the National, Provincial, and Prefectural levels. Every year, the SCCs publish an advisory report offering recommendations to their matching level of government, but these recommendations are non-binding, and SCCs lack the ability to pass laws.
Delegates to the system of SCCs are elected on a list-based PR basis, though citizens cast ballots for organized interest groups, not political parties. Delegates in SCCs also represent these interest groups in SCC proceedings. This gives the set of SCCs a distinctly corporatist character, with elected representatives of agriculture, industrial labor, and small and large business debating on behalf of their respective economic and social identities.
History
The first round of so-called "Social Consultative Conferences" were held in May 1993, after Choe Sŭng-min issued a proclamation encouraging prefecture-level governments to organize "Five-Class meetings" with representatives for laborers, farmers, professionals, petty entrepreneurs, and state-owned enterprises. The vaguely worded document did not lay down any guidelines about the selection of representatives, and actual implementation differed from one administrative division to another.
The class-occupation structure of the Consultative Conferences stemmed from Menghe's ongoing economic reforms, which had already brought noticeable growth but were also generating tension among hardline Socialists. By giving farmers, workers, and employers a place to negotiate collectively under state oversight, local Conferences aimed to alleviate labor unrest, and to ensure that development was mutually beneficial to all groups. In the process, the Party implicitly recognized laborers and early private entrepreneurs as equals, signaling Choe's pivot toward a corporatist vision of Socialism.
The system of SCCs as it exists today was formally established in February of 1998, when the National Assembly drafted the Foundational Law on Social Consultative Conferences, laying down the rules under which the first SCC delegates would be elected in July of the same year. To underscore the new institution's importance, the National Assembly also amended the Constitution to add an article on the Prefectural, Provincial, and National SCCs, whose election, organization, and role would be "spelled out in the Fundamental Law on SCCs."
Since 1998, the National Assembly has periodically amended the Fundamental Law, usually to add new official interest groups or revise the rules for rounding remainder votes. As the amended 1989 Constitution states that the Fundamental Law spells out the details, no constitutional amendments on the SCCs were required.
Organization
The system of SCCs is spelled out in the Foundational Law on Social Consultative Conferences, which was passed and amended by the National Assembly. This document lists the interest groups which are represented in the SCCs and the procedures for their election. It also designates a separate non-government organization as the official mouthpiece of each interest group. Some of these organizations were created by the state, while others, like the National Small Enterprise Association, already existed prior to the passage of the law. A table of officially recognized interest groups and matching organizations, as of the 2019 elections, is listed below.
| # | Social background | Umbrella Organization |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Socialist Party cadres | SCC Bureau of the Menghean Socialist Party |
| 2 | Military officers and personnel | Social Consultation Directorate of the MoND |
| 3 | Police and security personnel | Social Consultation Directorate of the MIS |
| 4 | Large entrepreneurs and management | Commission for Prosperity |
| 5 | Small business owners and self-employed | National Small Enterprise Association |
| 6 | Skilled workers and professionals | National Union of Skilled Workers |
| 7 | Artists, writers, musicians, and cultural figures | National Artists' Association |
| 8 | University students | National Higher Education Association |
| 9 | Industrial, construction, and other blue-collar workers | All-Menghe Federation of Labor Unions |
| 10 | Unskilled or semiskilled service employees | All-Menghe Service Workers' Union |
| 11 | Agricultural workers | Menghean Agriculture Organization |
| 12 | Fishermen, sailors, and nautical workers | Organization of Nautical Labor |
| 13 | Pensioners | National Association of Retired Persons |
| 14 | Women outside the labor force | Patriotic Association of Mothers and Wives |
Formally speaking, SCCs in Prefectures are designated Prefectural SCCs, while SCCs in Municipalities are designated Municipal SCCs. Provincial SCCs exist in Provinces and Semi-Autonomous Provinces, but not in Menghe's four Directly-Controlled Cities, where the Municipal SCC doubles as a Provincial SCC.
Elections
Elections for the system of Social Consultative Congresses are held every year on July 14th, the same day as local and assembly elections. Voters entering polling stations are given a special ballot containing a list of official interest groups and asked to pick the group which best represents their career or identity.
Once all ballots have been collected and counted, seats in the SCCs are allocated on the basis of proportional representation at each level of government. Because the list of interest groups is long, and some groups may be small, a special formula is used to allocate seats.
First, the number of seats in an SCC is designated as M, and the number of valid ballots cast is designated as V. V ÷ M = N, the number of votes per seat. Each interest group's vote share, X, is divided by N, and the whole-number quotient is the number of seats awarded to that interest group. Thus if each seat is equivalent to 10,000 ballots, and agricultural interests received 205,000 votes, 20 seats are reserved for agricultural interests and a remainder of 5,000 is recorded.
After this stage is complete, each group is left with a remainder of votes inadequate to secure a seat, and a certain number of empty seats remain unallocated. At this point, under a set of hierarchical guidelines designating most-similar interest groups, certain groups transfer their remainders to larger umbrella groups, which receive additional seats as their new remainder totals grow beyond N. This process is repeated until all seats are allocated.
Each interest group then fills its allocated seats using a pre-prepared ranked list of candidates. Like closed party lists, these lists are prepared by the interest group's attached organization, though interest groups may conduct vote-by-mail primaries among their members to nominate and rank candidates. Candidates must have current or recent work experience in their relevant social category, and are not necessarily the highest leaders in their attached organization.
In contrast to other Menghean elections, where a candidate may only run for one post at a time, candidates on a Prefectural-level list may also appear on Provincial and National lists. In fact, cross-listing is encouraged, as it facilitates the transfer of information between bodies. Provincial and National SCCs only convene for a few weeks every year, and during that time Prefectural SCCs suspend their operations, so there is no overlap in time commitments between bodies.
Activities
Prefectural SCCs
Prefectural SCCs meet year-round, except when the Provincial and National SCCs are in session. They are not full-time bodies, however, and typically convene every Sunday for a few hours to discuss recent issues. Delegates are only paid a partial stipend, and are expected to hold full-time jobs in their associated industries or organizations for the remaining days of the week. This requirement is intended to keep them embedded in society and in contact with their constituents.
Each Prefectural SCC elects a Chair and a Standing Committee, who work full-time on behalf of the SCC. The Standing Committee is responsible for drafting the agenda of each weekly meeting, incorporating local issues as they arise, and issues advice to the Prefectural Government when the SCC is not in session. By law, the Standing Committee must contain representatives of the five largest interest groups in its SCC.
Provincial SCCs
Seats in Provincial SCCs are allocated based on the total distribution of SCC ballots at the provincial level. Because there may be an overlap in membership due to concurrent membership on group lists, all Provincial SCCs convene for three weeks every June, when the Prefectural SCCs are in recess. In place of a Standing Committee, Provincial SCCs are each assigned a Permanent Office which communicates with the Standing Committees of the subordinate Prefectural SCCs to draft an annual agenda and coordinate on cross-prefectural social issues. These Permanent Offices are staffed by civil servants from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, rather than elected politicians, but mainly serve as liaison bodies rather than decision-making ones.
The opening session of each annual Provincial SCC meeting is devoted to reports from each of the Province's composite Prefectures and Municipalities, read by the Chair of the relevant SCC. Even if a Chair is not a concurrent member of the Provincial SCC, he or she is still brought in as a non-voting auxiliary member. These reports summarize ongoing social issues in each subdivision and recommended solutions at the province level. Delegates then debate on how best to resolve these issues, taking into account the interests of their composite groups. At the conclusion of the conference, each Provincial SCC compiles these debates into two reports: one for the Provincial Government, relating to policy solutions which can be implemented at the local level, and one which will be passed on to the NSCC.
NSCC
The National Social Consultative Conference convenes every year for the first three weeks in July, shortly after the Provincial SCCs have dissolved and overlapping with the next round of national elections. Like the Provincial SCCs, the NSCC first hears reports from the Chairs of each Provincial SCC and the SCCs of the Directly Controlled Cities, then debates possible solutions. The meeting concludes with an advisory document, which is published on or around July 21st.
Role
Some reports refer to the Social Consultative Conferences as legislative bodies, and the NSCC in particular as a "lower house." Though the SCCs are indeed directly elected representative bodies, their actual role in policymaking is much more limited. At each level of government, SCCs cannot pass binding legislation, nor can they block laws passed by other government bodies. All of their powers are advisory and non-binding, coming in the form of an annual overarching report at the Provincial and National levels, and year-long policy guidance at the Prefectural level. Actual decision-making power lies with National and Provincial Assemblies, and in more practical terms, with unelected officials in the executive branch.
Even so, the SCCs play an important role in aggregating interest group preferences. Prefectural SCCs provide a permament forum where labor and management, farmers and professionals, and all manner of other groups can debate local socio-economic issues in a calm and controlled setting, away from protest rallies and picket lines, providing constant input to Prefectural and Municipal Administrators. Provincial and National SCCs, meanwhile, smoothly aggregate the content of these debates up to the national level, both through annual conferences and through the MoCA-staffed Permanent Offices. A particularly interesting feature of the SCC system is that each interest group receives a share of seats equal to its share of the general population, or at least equal to its share of self-identifying voters. This rule places farmers and laborers on relatively favorable ground vis-a-vis large corporations, which otherwise benefit from cozy relations with Assembly members and bureaucratic agencies.
The timing of the Provincial and National Conferences is especially important. Elections in Menghe are held every year on July 14th, and the election winners are sworn into office on August 1st. Because Provincial and National SCC Reports come out in late June and late July, respectively, they provide incoming or returning legislators with a ready-made set of guidelines on current social issues and the various interest groups' stances on them.
Some academic disagreement exists over the degree to which Menghe's SCCs can be considered democratic institutions. Competition between the various interest groups is free and fair, with no state efforts to tilt the outcome in favor of one interest group or another. Prefectural SCC meetings are also sites of genuine contention and debate, especially when a local strike or land confiscation protest pits interests against one another. On the other hand, the nomination of interest group candidates is monopolized by a handful of officially recognized umbrella organizations, most of which have close connections with the Menghean Socialist Party. The All-Menghe Federation of Labor Unions, for example, is headed by an MSP member, has a built-in Party Committee, and tends to oppose militant labor activism, favoring a strategy of compromise and co-optation. NSCC meetings in particular are characterized by tone of political unity and consensus-building, and policy proposals which run directly counter to MSP policy goals rarely appear in their Reports.