制度选择对民主转型结果的影响

The Influence of Institutional Choice on Democratic Transition and Performance

民主转型中最为艰难的问题就是选择何种形式的民主制度,包括选择何种形式的政府、何种形式的政党制度以及何种形式的选举制度。多数民主模式在选举制度上选择多数选举制,在政党制度上往往表现为两党轮流执政的一党多数政府,在政府形式上往往采取总统制;而共识民主模式在选举制度上选择比例代表制,在政党制度上往往表现为多党制的联合政府,在政府形式上往往采取议会制。这两种不同的民主模式在制度上的不同选择对于发展中民主转型国家的最终结果产生了何种影响呢?基于对37个发展中民主转型国家的实证研究,本文的主要结论如下:制度的选择对于民主转型和巩固,以及民主国家的治理绩效非常重要;民主转型与制度选择没有一条固定的道路,各个国家应选择适合自己国情的民主制度模式;共识民主的制度选择是一条更具优势的制度设计之路,这一制度选择优于以美国为代表的多数民主制度选择。

The most challenging problem in democratic transition is to structure what kind of democratic system. The fundamental differences in the choice of democratic institutions may be deduced to:majoritarian versus consensus democracy. Majoritarian democracy tends to have majoritarian electoral system,single-party majority government and presidential system. On the contrary,consensus democracy prefers to have proportional representation system,broad multi-party government and parliamentary system. Based on the empirical research of 37 developing democracies,three conclusions of this article stand out as most important. Forms of institutional choice is crucial to democratic consolidation and government performance. Developing democracies should explore their own patterns of democracy which are suitable to their conditions. In general,consensus democracy is superior to majoritarian democracy.