民主与世界政治冲突

Democracy and the Conflicts in World Politics

世界近代文明史或许可以从"民主"的角度而重新书写,但是这个角度的世界史必然是一部充满冲突的历史。近代民主的"元形式"即自由主义民主—社会主义民主及其关系、以及作为民主形式变种的民族主义民主、伊斯兰主义民主和民粹主义民主与元形式民主之间的关系,构成了一部冲突性的世界政治图景,影响着世界秩序的走向。世界政治告诉我们,"文明的冲突"因民主化和民主而变得更加可能和现实,民主是从文明认同差异到文明冲突之间的中介机制。鉴于此,民主的内容、民主的内在属性以及其在各国政体中的真正位置,都需要重新审视。在价值上是公共善的民主,在制度意义上它只不过是国家建设诸多方面的一个讲究"时间性"的方面,不能在"元叙事"上谈论民主——民主是一切善恶的根源。

History of world modern civilizations could be rewritten from the perspective of'democracy'at the cost of most peace,generating a history full of conflicts.The elements behind the conflicting landscape of world politics include:'Element forms'of democracy,namely,liberal democracy and socialist democracy,and the interaction between them;and variations of democracy,such as nationalism democracy,Islamist democracy,populism democracy,and their relations with the element forms of democracy.It is these elements that continuously shape world order.Based on the reality of world politics,I contend that democracy is the intermediary mechanism between identity diversity based on civilizations and clashes of civilizations.Thanks to democracy and democratization,different identities are much likely to arouse a clash of civilization.Therefore,it is indispensable to re-evaluate the content and the attributes of democracy,as well as its role in different political regimes.Although democracy is endowed with most positive values and common good,it is nothing but one aspect of state building closely tied with time,and it should be examined through'moving pictures'rather than'snapshots'.Democracy as the only source of all the good and evil in the meta-narration is helpless in the end.