当代西方参与式民主理论述评

On the Theory of Contemporary Participatory Democracy in Western Countries

在民主思想的古典传统中,参与一直居于核心的地位。然而在现代政治生活中,参与却又一直被漠视和疏远,以致随着社会经济的发展,被誉为″近代最伟大发现″的代议制民主义已经积重难返。出于对当代民主理论的不满,20世纪60年代参与式民主理论重新兴起,随即成为一种重要的民主理论流派。参与式民主理论的发展与完善极大程度上弥补了代议制民主结构性的缺陷与不足,在建构当代民主理论中具有重要的规范作用。

Participation is the core essence of traditional democratic theory, but now it is much more ignored in real political practice. With the development of social economy, the latter-day great discovery ＂representative government＂ is hard to Work very well. To find the way out, participatory democracy stood out in 1960s and became one of the most im- portant models of democracy. Participatory democracy has made up for the representative government,s limitations to some extent and it will surely contribute a lot to the construction of modern democratic theory.