中西璧合:民国政治学家的民治诉求

Political and Thoughtful Communication between China and the West

晚清以降,中国面临三千年未有之大变局,以帝制为特征的中国传统政治体系轰然倒塌,中国政治思想逐渐接受了西方的民主政治观念,民治成了晚清民国时期精英的普遍意识形态,希望以此实现富国强兵。就民国政治学家而言,其民治诉求主要来源于下列因素:第一,晚清民初民主政治理论的历史记忆;第二,欧美自由主义政治学的域外教育背景;第三,中国非反体制的连续性国家进化的理性判断。民国政治学家的民治诉求反映了中国与西方在政治与思想上的文明璧合。但是,中国政权的风雨飘,却使他们不得不仰赖集权,从而对民治既爱又怨,形成一种矛盾心态。

The period since late Qing Dynasty had witnessed great changes in China and, consequently, traditional Chinese political system featuring imperialism collapsed. Democracy was the popular ideology sought at that time by elites as the means of prospering the country and building up its military power. The democracy values possessed by Minguo political scientists of the period of the Repbulic of China stem from three factors. First, there were historical records in political thought from late Qing Dynasty to the early period of the Republic of China. Second, there was educational backgroud of the liberal politics of Europe and America. Third, they had a rational notion that Chinese political development was not a part of the country evolution. Democracy advocated by political scientists reflects on the communication between China and the West. Nevertheless, the state was so unstable that it had to embrace the centralization of state power. Thus they developed an contradictory love-hate attitude towards democarcy.