最高国务会议是1954年宪法中的一项具有中国特色的会议机制，也是中国共产党治国理政的制度创设。基于促进国家重大事务决策、传承协商民主的政治传统，最高国务会议应运而生。1954年宪法对最高国务会议的召集人、参会人员、召开时间、运行程序作了初步设计，框定了最高国务会议的基本要素与运行机制，凸显人民民主原则并兼顾原则性与灵活性，以国家根本法的形式确立了最高国务会议在国家机构中的特殊政治地位。 对最高国务会议做全面系统的史料搜集与辨析以纠误正讹，是分析阐释其政治功能与制度属性的前提和基础。在判断不同时空的最高国务会议是否应当算作一次的问题时，应从“时间、人员、议题”等核心要素出发，综合把握不同会议的连续性与相对独立性，并采取直接论证、间接佐证的方式增强说服力。在1954年至1964年间，最高国务会议共召开了21次，其会期受到国内外局势、党和国家会议体系、制度环境的影响，参会人员呈现出广泛性特征，议题涵盖军事与外交、国内重大政治问题、人大与政协会议等重大国家事务，在协商国是、辅助决策的过程中发挥了不可替代的作用，为重大历史决策、经典文本生成提供了实践场域，提升了中国共产党的执政能力。 最高国务会议是中国共产党贯彻民主集中制的实践，把充分发扬党内民主和正确实行集中有机结合起来，既最大限度激发了全党创造活力，又统一全党思想和行动，有效防止和克服了议而不决、决而不行的情况；坚持民主化、科学化的决策原则，通过政策宣介的方式凝聚决策共识，最终将党的主张上升为国家意志；它是中国特色民主协商制度的一种新形式，议题成果有利于深化协商民主理论与实践，运行逻辑凸显协商民主实际效能，在国家最高权力机关与行政机关之间架起了沟通桥梁，使得决策和执行效能得以充分发挥。正确评价最高国务会议的历史作用，客观分析最高国务会议的时代价值，有助于在新时代兼顾历史与现实、理论与实践的基础上，完善国家政治制度设计，推进国家治理体系与治理能力现代化。
The Supreme Conference on National Affairs is a meeting mechanism with Chinese characteristics in the 1954 Constitution, and an institutional creation of the Communist Party of China in governing the country. Based on the political tradition of promoting state decision-making and inheriting consultative democracy, the 1954 Constitution made a preliminary design of the conveners, participants, convening time, and operating procedures of the Supreme Conference on National Affairs, framing the basic elements and operating mechanism of the Conference, highlighting the principle of people's democracy and balancing principle and flexibility, and establishing the Conference's special political status among state institutions in the form of the fundamental law of the country. The Supreme Conference on National Affairs has a special political status among the state institutions.A comprehensive and systematic historical collection and analysis of the Conference is a prerequisite for analyzing and interpreting its political functions and institutional properties. When judging whether the Supreme Conference on National Affairs in different time and space should be counted as one, we should start from the core elements such as "time, personnel and topics", grasp the continuity and relative independence of different councils, and adopt direct arguments and indirect supporting evidence to enhance persuasiveness. Between 1954 and 1964, a total of 21 sessions of the Supreme Conference on National Affairs were held, the duration of which was influenced by the domestic and international situation, the conference system of the CPC and the State, and the institutional environment. The participants showed a wide range of characteristics, and the topics covered military and foreign affairs, major domestic political issues, and meetings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. It provides a practical field for major historical decisions and the generation of classical texts, and enhances the ruling ability of the CPC. The Supreme Conference on National Affairs is a practice of the CPC's implementation of democratic centralism, which organically combines the full development of internal Party democracy and the correct implementation of centralization, maximizing the creative energy of the entire Party, unifying the Party's thoughts and actions, and effectively preventing and overcoming the situation of discussion without decision and decision without action. The Supreme Conference on National Affairs adheres to the principles of democratization and scientific decision making, and ultimately elevates the Party's ideas to the will of the state through policy advocacy. It is a new form of democratic consultation system with Chinese characteristics, and the results of the issues are conducive to deepening the theory and practice of consultative democracy, and the operational logic highlights the practical effectiveness of consultative democracy. A correct evaluation of the effectiveness of the Supreme Conference on National Affairs and an objective analysis of its contemporary value will help improve the design of the national political system and promote the modernization of the national governance system and capacity in the new era, based on a balance between history and reality, theory and practice.
