罗干（1935－2019），四川自贡人，中共前政治局常委、中央政法委书记，是江泽民、胡锦涛时期政法系统的最高负责人。他长期掌控公安、国安、检察院、法院、司法和武警等机构。
罗干早年在石油系统任职，1990年代进入政法系统。1998年，他进入中共中央政治局常委会，并出任中央政法委书记，全面掌管政法工作直至2007年退休。在这近十年的时间里，中国的“维稳”体制全面成型，维稳经费逐年攀升，“稳定压倒一切”成为政法系统的核心口号。
在罗干任内，最突出的举措是对宗教与信仰群体的打压。1999年，中共对法轮功运动展开全面镇压，罗干被普遍认为是这一政策的主要推手和执行者。他推动设立专门的“610办公室”，以跨部门、超法律的方式指挥抓捕、关押与思想改造，形成大规模的全国性运动。这一时期，酷刑、劳教和监控等手段被系统化运用，标志着政法机器向极端化发展。
与此同时，罗干对上访与维权群体的态度同样强硬。在他的主导下，大规模“截访”成为常态，地方政府建立起各类关押点，阻止民众赴京反映问题。维权律师、异议人士以及参与社会运动的公民频繁遭到调查、拘押和打压。政法系统内部流传“罗干一句话，能毁人一生”，显示其个人在体制内的绝对权威。
他强调“以铁腕维护稳定”，却视法律独立与公民权利。在他治下，政法机关不仅是维护治安的机构，更成为维护政治安全、压制社会异议的核心工具。
罗干的政策在国际社会也引发广泛关注。人权组织、联合国机构多次点名，认为他主导的维稳与镇压构成严重侵犯人权。他由此被视为中国当代“维稳体制”的代表性人物之一。
2007年，罗干退休；2019年因病去世。中共官方在讣告中称其为“党的优秀党员”，但外界更关注的是他在任期间留下的政法路线。他所推动的高压与维稳模式，深刻影响了此后中国的政法系统，成为持续延续至今的治理逻辑。
罗干不仅是中共权力体系中的重要人物，更是当代酷吏政治的典型代表。他在政法系统推行的高压政策，使得国家机器对社会的控制达到前所未有的程度，也为此后中国的“维稳化”路径奠定了基础。
编辑：胡丽莉
责任编辑：罗志飞
RUTHLESS ENFORCER
Luo Gan (1935–2019), a native of Zigong, Sichuan Province, was a former member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee and Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. During the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras, he was the top official overseeing China’s political-legal system, holding long-term control over the police, state security, procuratorates, courts, justice system, and the People’s Armed Police.
Luo began his career in the petroleum sector and entered the political-legal system in the 1990s. In 1998, he was elevated to the Politburo Standing Committee and appointed Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, taking full charge of political-legal affairs until his retirement in 2007. Over this near-decade, China’s “stability maintenance” (weiwen) apparatus took full shape, with expenditures rising annually. “Stability above all else” became the central slogan of the political-legal system.
The most prominent measure under Luo’s tenure was the suppression of religious and spiritual groups. In 1999, the CCP launched a nationwide campaign against the Falun Gong movement. Luo was widely regarded as the chief architect and enforcer of this policy. He promoted the establishment of the extralegal “610 Office,” which coordinated cross-departmental operations to arrest, detain, and subject practitioners to ideological “transformation,” resulting in a massive nationwide campaign. During this period, torture, re-education through labor, and surveillance were systematically employed, marking a shift of the political-legal apparatus toward extremity.
At the same time, Luo maintained a hardline stance toward petitioners and rights-defense groups. Under his direction, large-scale “interceptions” of petitioners became routine, with local governments setting up detention sites to prevent citizens from traveling to Beijing to lodge complaints. Rights lawyers, dissidents, and citizens involved in social movements were frequently investigated, detained, and suppressed. Within the system, the saying “One word from Luo Gan can ruin a person’s life” circulated, reflecting his absolute authority in the political-legal establishment.
He stressed “maintaining stability with an iron hand,” yet disregarded judicial independence and citizens’ rights. Under his leadership, political-legal organs became not only institutions for preserving public order but also the core instruments for maintaining political security and suppressing social dissent.
Luo’s policies drew wide international attention. Human rights organizations and United Nations bodies repeatedly named him, holding that the stability maintenance and crackdowns he directed constituted grave violations of human rights. He has thus been regarded as one of the defining figures of China’s contemporary stability-maintenance regime.
Luo retired in 2007 and died of illness in 2019. In its obituary, the CCP praised him as “an outstanding Party member,” but outside observers focused more on the political-legal line he left behind. The high-pressure and stability-first approach he advanced profoundly shaped China’s political-legal system and continues to define its governance logic today.
Luo Gan was not only a key figure in the CCP power structure but also a quintessential representative of contemporary authoritarian strong-arm politics. The coercive policies he implemented within the political-legal system brought state control over society to an unprecedented level and laid the foundation for China’s subsequent “stability-maintenance” trajectory.
Editor: Hu Lili Executive Editor: Luo Zhifei
