国家构成与历史进程——评苏力《大国宪制:历史中国的制度构成》

The Formation of a State and Its Historical Process:A Review of Su Li’s The Constitutionalism of a Big State:The Institutional Formation in Chinese History

《大国宪制:历史中国的制度构成》一书从国家构成的视角理解宪制问题,是对经典宪法学研究传统的回归,也是对时下以权利、司法为核心的宪法学研究的范式突破。作者借用中国古代“齐家、治国、平天下”的术语,讨论为什么中国必须同时又必须分别应对这三个宪制问题。虽然这种研究面临着巨大的理论风险,其抽象程度注定挂一漏万,在具体论证时也很容易陷入历史细节的泥潭,但是作者旨在解说中国历史宪制变迁的理论努力,以及试图在此基础上提供一种一般性的宪制理论的理论抱负,仍然是非常可贵的。

Su Li's book The Constitutionalism of a Big State approaches the problem of constitutionalism from the angle of the formation of a state. This is not only a return to the tradition in legal studies but also a breakthrough in the paradigm of the current constitutional studies centering on the rights and justice. Borrowing such notions as qijia 齐家(literally order the family), zhiguo 治国(literally govern the state) and ping tianxia 平天下(literally pacify the world) from ancient Chinese Confucian intellectuals, Su Li explores the reason why China has to deal with these three problems facing its constitutional system respectively as well as simultaneously. Despite the big theoretical risks due to its great abstractness and entanglement with too many historical details in specific arguments, Su's theoretical efforts to describe the evolution of Chinese constitutional system and his theoretical ambition of providing a general theory of constitutionalism are of great significance.