民主与多数统治:多数主义民主“范式”的终结

Democracy and the Rule of Majority:The End of the Paradigm of Majoritarian Democracy

传统的民主观念把民主等同于多数人的统治,这种主张多数统治的民主理论在当代又被称为"多数主义民主"。英国式两党竞争、"胜者通吃"的决策模式和权力集中的政治制度自产生以来就被视为多数主义民主"范式"的典型代表,备受西方学者的青睐。然而,随着当代民主理论研究的推进和民主实践的发展,多数主义民主的理论和实践之间不仅出现了矛盾还产生了脱节,引发了多数主义民主范式的危机;同时,把民主直接等同于多数统治被认为是错误的观念而且已经对民主的实践造成了严重的危害。由此,一种旨在改变传统民主理论学科中心的错误认识,主张终结多数主义民主范式的呼声逐渐成为当前政治学界尤其是民主理论研究领域的热门话题。

In the traditional view, democracy is equated with the rule of majority. The idea of majority rule in contemporary democratic theory is also known as ＂majoritarian democracy.＂ British decision-making model of competition between two parties with its result of ＂winner takes all＂ and concentration of power in its political system have been considered to be a typical representative of ＂paradigm＂ of Majoritarian Democracy which attracted many western scholars of all ages. However, with the advancement of contemporary democratic theory and the development of the democratic practice, the contradiction and deviation gradually formed between the theory and its practice of Majoritarian Democracy which led to the crisis of the paradigm of Majoritarian Democracy; Meanwhile, the traditional idea about the democracy and the majority rule was also believed to be wrong and had already done a great harm to the practice of democracy. Thus, a kind of theory aimed at changing the incorrect idea in the center field of politics and advocating the end of the paradigm of Majoritarian Democracy has become a hot topic in the current circles of Politics especially in the theory about democracy.