政府激励与公民共同体的形成——以北京市朝阳区为例

Government Stimulus and Formation of Civic Community—the Case of Beijing's Chaoyang District

公民共同体对于民主国家的运作具有重要意义,学界普遍认为一个国家或地区公民共同体的发展水平是由历史决定的。在现阶段的中国城市,随着社区建设的推进,政府在公民共同体的形成过程中发挥了关键性的作用。在理论上,本研究基于政府对公民社会作用的双重性,构建了政府激励模型,用于解释目前在我国城市社区建设中政府推动公民共同体形成的作用路径:政府通过提供合法性激励提高居民对社区公民社会组织的信任度,提供资源性激励弥补组织在形成和发展过程中的物质成本,从而促进了社区中公民社会组织的发展,进而推动了公民共同体的形成。在实证上,本研究于2007年底在北京市朝阳区开展了针对城市社区社团组织的问卷普查,回归分析结果有力地验证了模型的正确性。研究结果表明政府在公民共同体的形成过程中具有重要的推动作用,虽然公民共同体的发展水平受到路径依赖作用的影响,但是政府激励作用的发挥也会带来社会领域有益的变化。

Civic communities are highly significant in the functioning of democratic states.Academics generally believe that the degree to which civic communities have developed in a state or region is determined by history.In today s Chinese cities,the government has played a key role in formation of civic communities in the process of community building.This article offers a model for government stimulus based on the dual effects of the government on civil society.It then uses it to explain the channels through which the government advances formation of civic communities in the process of urban community building.By providing legitimacy stimuli,the government increases residents trust in community civil society organizations;by providing resource stimuli,the government alleviates the material costs of starting up and developing organizations.This way,the government advances the development of civil society organizations in communities,thereby driving the formation of civic communities.The results from empirical research,conducted by taking questionnaires on social group organizations in selected urban communities of Beijing s Chaoyang district at the end of 2007,powerfully confirmed the fit of the model.The research results indicate that the government plays an important role in the formation of civic communities.Although the general progress of civic community formation has suffered from the effects of path dependence,government stimuli have brought about positive changes in society.