“人民”的定义与美国早期的国家构建被引量：44

Definition of "the People" and Early American Nation Building

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摘要在美国早期的政治话语中,"人民"是一个核心词汇,但关于"人民"的界定却复杂多样,颇不确定。在美国建国精英看来,"我们合众国人民"并不是雅典民主所依赖的那种同质性的公民共同体,要构建一种有效的政治国家,就必须重新界定"人民"。他们为"人民"勾画了两种相互联系而又存在很大差别的形象:作为一个道德整体的"人民",乃是政治国家一切权力的来源;而现实政治世界中的"人民"则被视为"愚昧而轻率的大众",并不具备直接行使政治权力的素质和能力。他们在思考和设计国家制度时,一方面利用抽象的"人民"名义来确立政治国家的正当性,另一方面则极力抑制和过滤普通民众的政治影响。 'The people' was a core term in early American political discourse,but its definition was varied,complex and fluid.In the eyes of America's founding elites,'we the people of the United States' was not the homogeneous citizenry of Athenian democracy.They had to redefine 'the people' in order to build up an effective political state.They pictured 'the people' in two interrelated yet very different ways:'the people' as a moral entity,the source of all power in a polity;and 'the people' in the real political world,whom they regarded as an ignorant and hasty multitude who had neither the qualities nor the capacities for the direct exercise of political power.In considering and designing institutions for the new nation,they used the abstract concept of 'the people' to legitimize the political state on the one hand,while making every endeavor to minimize the political influence of ordinary people on the other.

作者李剑鸣

机构地区北京大学历史学系教授

出处《历史研究》 CSSCI 北大核心 2009年第1期110-133,共24页 Historical Research

关键词 “人民” 美国革命国家构建

分类号 K712 [历史地理—世界史]

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