“转型范式”民主理论的谬误——探索“治理范式”的中国民主理论

The Fallacy of the Democratic Theory Based on the Transition Paradigm: A Probe into the Chinese Democratic Theory Based on the Governance Paradigm

第三波民主化曾被视为当代世界最强有力的政治潮流,但它在20世纪末期出现的民主回潮现象在西方学界引发了有关"民主衰落"的讨论。这一讨论揭示出民主化理论中"转型范式"的重大缺陷,并使学者发现国家能力、国家建设和国家治理在政治发展中的重要意义。通过述评民主衰落论,文章认为,鉴于"转型范式"的缺陷,可以探索以"治理范式"为中心的民主理论,中国国家治理经验能够为此提供理论创新的资源。

The third wave of democratization was seen as one of the strongest political changes in the contempo- rary world, but it gradually faded at the end of the 20th century and democratic recession trigged the debate on ＂whether democracy is in decline＂ in Western academics. The debate exposed the main defects of the paradigm of transition in the theory of democratization and rediscovered state capacity and governance as the key factor in the process of democratic transition. Given the defects of the transition paradigm, this essay suggests that the governance paradigm should be taken to be in the central position in the theory of democratization and the Chi- nese government＇s experience in governance can provide the corresponding theoretical resources.