以社会制约权力——罗伯特·达尔的民主新视角

The Check on Power by Pluralistic Society: a New Democratic Theory of Robert·Dahl

罗伯特·达尔认为政府内部对官员的制约和政权机关之间的制衡并不一定能够完全有效地防止专制．一个由各种独立的、自主的社团组成的多元社会，可以对公共权力构成一种“社会的制衡”，是促成民主不可或缺的因素，但这一点常被人们忽视．一个独立于国家的、自我管理的多元社会是民主必不可少的条件，具有一只永远明亮的独立之眼，监督着国家，使之不至于沦为专制．

This article focuses on the theory of pluralistic democracy of Robert A. Dahl. In today＇s western academic circles, Dahl＇s theory is outstanding and special. In his view, democracy is neither “The sovereignty of the people”nor “The rule of the majority”. Democracy means not only the check on and balance of public authorities such as legislative power, judicial power and administrative power, but the check on powers by pluralistic society. Democracy depends on pluralistic society, which is formed by many relatively autonomous social organizations.