郡县国家：中国国家治理体系的传统及其当代挑战

Prefecture-and-County Country: Tradition of China's National Governance System and Its Contemporary Challenge

中国在传统社会基础上逐渐形成了"郡县国家"为核心特征的国家治理体系,其以中原农耕乡土社会的"郡县制度"为主导和针对边疆游牧流动社会的"盟旗制度"为补充。"郡县国家"有四大支柱:中央集权为核心导向、文官制度为中层支撑、乡土自治为基层设计、行政区划为技术保障。"郡县国家"的静态社会治理经验至今依然有强大的历史惯性和影响力,但其在面对"流动社会"时出现了严重不适应,尤其体现在中央集权和地方自主、科层僵化与有效治理之间的矛盾。中国从传统社会向现代社会转型过程中,就国家治理的社会基础而言,是由一个"静态社会"向"流动社会"转变,这构成了以"郡县国家"为传统的中国国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的长期与根本挑战。

The starting point to achieve the transition and development towards modernization is the tradition and source of China's national governance system on which in- depth analyses have been made.A national governance system with the core feature of the ' prefecture- and- county country' has gradually been established in China based on its traditional society. It is dominated by the ' prefecture- and- county system' directed at agrarian society in the Central Plains and supplemented by the ' league- and- banner system' directed at nomadic society of the border areas. The four mainstays of the ' prefecture- and- county country' include: centralized authority as a core orientation,civil service system as a middle support,local autonomy as a basic design and administrative division as a technical guarantee. The experience in governing the static society of the ' prefecture- and-county country' has so far had a great historical inertia and widespread influence. However,it has become seriously maladapted when faced with the ' mobile society',especially reflected in the contradictions between centralized authority and local autonomy and between hierarchical rigidity and effective governance. As far as national governance and social foundation are concerned,China has been changing from a ' static society' to a ' mobile society' in the course of transformation from traditional society to modern society,which has become a long- term fundamental challenge to China's national governance system and governing ability featuring the tradition of the ' prefecture- and-county country'.