公民社会与民主巩固:东亚政治实践对西方经典理论的检验

Civil Society and Democratic Consolidation: East Asian Political Practices’Test on Western Classical Theories

西方经典理论认为,公民社会在民主巩固中发挥极其重要的作用,具体体现在监督选举过程、推动政治参与、强化民主教育等方面。通过考察东亚国家的政治实践来检验西方学者关于公民社会与民主巩固的结论可见,东亚公民社会仍存在一些明显的不利于民主巩固的因素,如公民社会缺乏对民主政治制度化的影响力、公民社会在社会整体利益的整合面前无能为力、公民社会的过度动员等,很容易对民主进程造成分裂性的影响。这一结论表明,对于制度赤字的转型国家而言,公民社会的发展并不是一劳永逸的解决办法。而要更为有效地巩固民主,仍需回归到国家、政府和政党来思考问题。

Western classical theories hold that civil society has an extremely important function on democratic consolidation. This function has been observed specifically in monitoring electoral process, promoting political participation, and reinforcing democratic education. This article tries to test Western scholar＇s theories on civil society and democratic consolidation through discussing East Asian＇s political practices. This article chooses Thailand, Indonesia, Philippine, and South Korea as studying cases. The basic conclusion is that East Asian civil societies have some disadvantageous impact on democratic consolidation. For example, civil society is short of institutional influence on democratic politics and powerful integration of social comprehensive interest. Excessive mobilization of civil society also has some divisive impact on democratic process. This conclusion shows that, for some institution-deficit transitional countries, civil society is not a one-for-all way. To consolidate democracy effectively, state, government, and party are still very important.