综合陆媒报导，北京大学政府管理学院网站的“学院领导”资料显示，北京大学政府管理学院院长俞可平已卸任，改由常务副院长燕继荣接任。
燕继荣原为北京大学政府管理学院教授，北京大学长江学者特聘教授，北京大学国家治理研究院研究员、副院长等。
前任院长俞可平被视为中共体制内的自由派学者，前中共领导人胡锦涛的政治理论智囊。2006年担任中共中央编译局副局长时，俞可平发表“民主是个好东西”一文，引起轰动，被视为中共推进政治改革的重要信号。
公开资料显示，俞可平出生于1959年7月，是浙江诸暨人，曾担任中共中央编译局副局长、比较政治与经济研究中心主任等职。
2013年4月27日，时任中共编译局副局长的俞可平，在香港中文大学演讲，主题是“中国大陆民主治理的路径与方向”。
值得一提的是，邀请俞可平的是香港社会学者陈健民，而陈健民当时已参与发起致力于争取香港普选的“和平占中”运动。
同年7月13日，《新京报》刊发题为《俞可平：如何实现有序的民主》的文章。文章称，“民主已经不是喜欢不喜欢的问题，而是一种不可阻挡的潮流。”
2015年，俞可平辞去中央编译局职务，返回母校北京大学出任新建立的政治学研究中心主任、讲席教授，并同时担任北大政府管理学院院长。
俞可平对媒体表示，一直希望能辞去行政职务，回到大学做一个纯粹的教授。
而俞可平当时离职的时间点敏感，不仅处在十八届五中全会召开前夕，也正值中国从民间到高层就马克思主义、共产主义话题展开辩论之际，因此引发外界关注。
中国知名宪政学者陈永苗分析认为，从俞可平的个人角度看，他在体制内已经走到了尽头，应当是和体制做切割，因为他留在体制内也是处于踩钢丝绳的情况，而且政治体制改革已经不可能。
之后，俞可平又在多种场合公开发表民主政治敏感言论。
2016年1月，俞可平接连在财新网发表文章，呼吁客观看待当代资本主义，公开谈论四大政治理想：善政、法治、民主、安全；并称中国面临的最大挑战是社会的不公。
同年2月19日，俞可平刊文称，中国官本主义的典型特征是专制主义，唯有民主法治才能破解官本主义。
6月13日，俞可平发文说，俄罗斯的民主转型，引起了中国知识分子的高度关注；这种关注更有现实政治的意义。文章重点阐述，即使像俄罗斯这样具有深厚专制政治传统的大国，走向民主政治也是不可逆转的客观历史进程。
6月26日，俞可平在深圳演讲，承认中国已出现局部治理危机，总结中共政治治理面临6大突出问题；并批判中共网络封锁制度，称“以堵为主的网络制度不长久”。
同年12月19日，中共政协副主席、香港前特首董建华邀请俞可平再次访港做演讲，主题则为“中国大陆如何治理”。被问及民主、中国政治改革等问题时，他回应说：这么多年他已经不想讲了，回到北大以后，他就想仰望星空，做天上的学问。
不过，同年俞可平在中国出版的“偏爱学问”一书中，收录他先前发表的关于民主政治的系列文章，当中也包括“民主是个好东西”。
书中说，一种良好的政治制度，可以使政府享有足够的权威，同时公民也享有充分的自由；要充分吸取人类政治文明的一切优秀成果，包括民主政治方面的优秀成果等。
今年4月28日，俞可平发表“新冠肺炎（中共病毒）危机对国家治理的影响”一文说，从疫情客观后果看，国家治理体系面临重大改革，国家治理评价标准需要进行调整，地方治理和社会治理将变得更加重要。
Hu Jintao's Wise Counselor Steps Down as Dean of Peking University, Once Said Democracy is a Good Thing
Yu Keping is regarded as Hu Jintao's think-tank and a liberal scholar within the Communist Party system. (composite photo)
Recently, Yu Keping stepped down as dean of Peking University's School of Government. Yu is regarded as a wise advisor to Hu Jintao and a liberal scholar within the Chinese Communist Party system, and in his early years, he published an article entitled "Democracy is a Good Thing", which caused a sensation.
According to the website of the School of Government of Peking University, Yu Keping has stepped down as dean of the School of Government of Peking University and has been replaced by Executive Vice Dean Yan Jirong, as reported by the Chinese media.
Yan was formerly a professor at the School of Government of Peking University, a Distinguished Professor of Peking University's Changjiang Scholar, and a researcher and vice president of Peking University's Institute of National Governance.
In 2006, when he was deputy director of the Communist Party's Central Compilation and Administration Bureau, Yu Keping published an article entitled "Democracy is a Good Thing", which caused a sensation and was seen as an important signal for the Communist Party to promote political reform.
According to public information, Yu Keping, born in July 1959, is a native of Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, and has served as deputy director of the CPC Central Compilation and Compilation Bureau and director of the Center for Comparative Politics and Economic Research.
On April 27, 2013, Yu Keping, then deputy director of the CPC Compilation and Compilation Bureau, gave a speech at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on the topic of "The Path and Direction of Democratic Governance in Mainland China.
It is worth mentioning that Yu was invited by Hong Kong sociologist Chen Jianmin, who was already involved in the "peaceful occupation" movement for universal suffrage in Hong Kong.
On July 13 of the same year, an article titled "Yu Keping: How to Achieve Orderly Democracy" was published in the New Beijing News. According to the article, "Democracy is no longer a matter of liking it or not, but an unstoppable trend."
In 2015, Yu Keping resigned from the Central Compilation and Compilation Bureau and returned to his alma mater, Peking University, as the director of the newly established Center for Political Science Research and Chair Professor, as well as the dean of Peking University's School of Government and Management.
Yu Keping told the media that he had always hoped to resign from his administrative position and return to the university as a pure professor.
The timing of Yu's departure was sensitive, not only on the eve of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, but also at a time when China was debating the topics of Marxism and communism from the civil to the high level, thus arousing the attention of the outside world.
According to Chen Yongmiao, a well-known Chinese constitutional scholar, from Yu Keping's personal point of view, he has reached the end of his career in the system and should cut himself off from the system, because he is in a tightrope situation even if he stays in the system, and reform of the political system is no longer possible.
After that, Yu Keping made sensitive remarks about democratic politics in public on many occasions.
In January 2016, Yu Keping published successive articles on Caixin.com, calling for an objective view of contemporary capitalism and openly talking about four major political ideals: good governance, rule of law, democracy, and security; and saying that the biggest challenge China faces is social injustice.
On February 19 of the same year, Yu Keping published an article saying that the typical characteristic of Chinese officialism is authoritarianism, and that only democracy and rule of law can crack officialism.
On June 13, Yu Keping wrote that the democratic transition in Russia has aroused a great deal of concern among Chinese intellectuals; this concern has a more realpolitik significance. The article focused on the fact that even in a large country with a deep tradition of authoritarian politics like Russia, the move toward democratic politics is an irreversible and objective historical process.
On June 26, Yu Keping gave a speech in Shenzhen, acknowledging that a local governance crisis had emerged in China and summarizing the six major problems facing the CCP's political governance; he also criticized the CCP's network blocking system, saying that "a network system based on blocking is not sustainable.
On December 19 of the same year, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa invited Yu Keping to give a speech in Hong Kong again on the topic of "How to govern in mainland China". When asked about democracy and political reform in China, he responded that he no longer wanted to speak for so many years, and that after returning to Peking University, he wanted to look up to the stars and do his studies in the sky.
However, in the same year, Yu Keping's book "Preferred Learning" published in China included a series of articles he had previously published on democratic politics, including "democracy is a good thing".
The book says that a good political system allows the government to enjoy sufficient authority while citizens enjoy full freedom, and that all the best achievements of human political civilization, including those in democratic politics, should be fully absorbed.
On April 28 this year, Yu Keping published an article on "The Impact of the New Pneumoconiosis Crisis on National Governance," saying that the objective consequences of the epidemic have led to a major reform of the national governance system, and that the evaluation criteria for national governance need to be adjusted, with local and social governance becoming more important.