“没有政府的治理”:西方理论的适用性及其边界——以明清时期的南方社会组织及其公共服务为例

“Governance without Government”:The Applicability and the Border of Western Theories——Based on the Study of Southern Social Organizations and Their Public Service in the Period of Ming and Qing Dynasties

中国的崛起必然伴随着概念与解释体系的发现与重塑,如何恰当地使用源自西方的政治概念与理论模式已经成为21世纪中国学术研究的历史命题。当前"市民社会"与"公民社会"的"没有政府的治理"研究取向,并没有超越西方理论的价值窠臼,明清时期南方的宗族家族、同乡会馆、行会公所、寺院庙观与乡绅善会等社会组织及其公共服务的研究表明,传统中国尽管确实存在着一个"没有政府的治理"的社会领域,但是,它并不具有近代西方"市民社会"与现代"公民社会"的政治性,而只是社会性与经济性的,国家与社会之间的关系是分工共治而不是替代竞争。

Along with the rise of China, there must be discoveries and remodelments of conceptions and interpretative systems. How to use the political concepts and the theoretical models which are derived from the West in a proper way has been the historical proposition for the Chinese academic studies in the 21st century. Since that, the most important thing is to define the applicable conditions and the interpretative scope of western concepts and theories. Actually, the two research orientations of ＂governance without government＂ are seemed to be independent but never surpass the conventional pattern of Western theories. Based on the study of southern social organizations and their public service in the period of Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is sure that a social field showing as ＂governance without government＂ does exist in traditional China. However, it does not possess the political nature of bourgeois society or civil society but just own a social and economic core, which means the State and society divide the work and share the governance instead of substitution or competition.