China News Service, Beijing, August 31 (Reporter Tan Yuguo) Recently, the first Political Science Frontier Forum (2026) of the Chinese Social Science Magazine, co-sponsored by the China Social Science Magazine and China University of Political Science and Law, was held. The forum was themed "Chinese-style modernization and the era proposition of Chinese political science". More than a hundred experts and scholars in the field of domestic political science gathered together to conduct multi-unit discussions focusing on the theoretical connotation of Chinese-style modernization, institutional foundations, the construction of independent knowledge systems, and new political science issues in the digital era.
Li Honglei, Secretary of the Party Committee and Editor-in-Chief of the China Social Sciences Magazine, said in his speech that one of the reasons for focusing on "Chinese-style modernization and the contemporary proposition of Chinese political science" is the core challenge of Chinese political science. It is no longer "using existing theories to explain Chinese practice", but "growing new theories from Chinese practice." The second is the "paradigm shift of knowledge production". The "two combinations" require us to no longer look for answers from the extension of Western theory, but to re-examine the premise and foundation of knowledge production from the height of methodological consciousness. The third is the "globalization of Chinese knowledge." Chinese political science must answer questions about China, the world, the people, and the times.
Lu Chunlong, president of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that political science research in the new era cannot simply apply the Western modernization paradigm, but must be based on China's reality, form real questions, and deepen theoretical creation. It is necessary to deeply explore the rich political wisdom in Chinese civilization, take root in the land of China, and create a political science knowledge system that can not only highlight Chinese characteristics but also participate in global academic dialogues on an equal footing.
The forum is divided into four units, including Zheng Yongnian, dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Lin Shangli, former president of Renmin University of China and professor of the School of International Relations, Yan Jirong, dean of the School of Government at Peking University, and Xiao Bin, director of the Department of Social Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University More than 20 participating scholars discussed the time-space coordinates and political and economic logic of Chinese-style modernization, the institutional foundation and national theoretical innovation of Chinese-style modernization, the construction of an independent knowledge system of Chinese political science from the perspective of "two combinations", and new topics and new methods of political science in the new era.
Scholars attending the meeting said that they will use this forum as a new starting point to further deepen the research on Chinese-style modernization and political science era propositions, strive to launch more academic results with ideological penetration and theoretical persuasion, and make new and greater contributions to building an independent knowledge system of Chinese political science and serving the development of the party and the country.
