20世纪美国州政府的立法体制改革

The Legislative System Reform of American Sate Government in the 20th Century

为重新确立州立法机构的地位和提高立法过程的民主化水平,美国各州自十九、二十世纪之交开始了对立法体制的改革。在随后近一个世纪的时期中,各州相继进行了立法机构的职业化改革、议席分配的平等化改革、选区划分的合理化改革和立法体制的民主化改革。至20世纪末,改革者们设定的目标基本得到实现。然而,民众对改革后果并不是很满意,他们自1990年代以来又提出了许多反向的改革主张。

In order to establish the status of state legislation and improve the democratic level of legislative procedure, American states began the legislative system reform in the turning period of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the subsequent nearly 100 years, the states made some reforms, such as professionalization of legislative institution, equalization of seat distribution, rationalization of electorate division and democratization of legislative system. The reformers＇ goals have been basically achieved in the late of 20th century. However, the public are not quite satisfied with the reform result. They have put forward many reverse propositions since 1990s.