选举民主、政治合法性与地方治理——乡镇基层民主发展的若干命题初论

Electoral Democracy,Political Legitimacy and Local Governance In China:Three Propositions of Township-Level Democratization

本文从中国农村基层民主发展的内在逻辑出发对基层民主发展的若干问题进行了分析,认为选举式民主是不是中国农村政治发展的方向,将取决于两个内生性变量,即:村民的民主欲求和各地面临问题的性质。文章就选举民主能否增加基层地方政权的合法性进行了分析,指出选举民主只是增强地方政府合法性的途径之一。在民主和政府治理的关系上,作者认为选举民主未必能够提高基层政府的治理水平。目前中国农村基层政改并不存在一种"成功"模式适合所有地方,因此,不应该以政策或法律的形式强制推行某一种模式,而应该在给定"方向"和"原则"的前提下倡导和鼓励各地自主创新,探索适合本地方的政改模式。

Starting with the internal logic of Chinese township-level democratization, this paper analyzes a few important issues on township-level democratization. Firstly, it holds that, the applicability of electoral democracy at the township level in rural China is proposed to be determined by two important endogenous variables： villagers＇ democratic aspiration and the nature of problems each area is facing. Secondly, through analyzing the relationship between electoral democracy and political legitimacy of local government, it argues that electoral democracy represents only one of many ways to improve the legitimacy of local government and does not necessarily lead to good governance. Finally, this paper draws a conclusion that, there is no ＂successful mode＂ of local democracy that can suit for all China＇s rural areas; therefore, no mode should be forcefully implemented as mandated by law.