从权力社会到政治社会:可能性及其限度

From Power Society to Political Society:Possibility and Limit

任何社会都存在着政治权力,但未必都是权力社会,只有把权力确立为社会最核心的力量时,才可能成为权力社会。权力社会也并不意味着是最无正义原则的社会形态,只有把权力视为和作为权力拥有者获取最大化利益、实施没有限度的支配行为的工具时,才是最没有正义原则的社会,才是典型的权力社会。没有限度和限制的权力,会把政治视为权力的工具,借助在他们看来是正确和正当的意识形态贯彻权力者自身的意志,国家意志只是他们假借的工具和名义。而在一个以公共善为目的的社会,政治权力被置于政治的框架内,借助正义而有效的政治观念、制度和体制来合理地分割权力、正当地使用权力。由权力社会向政治社会转型须具备三个严格条件,即政治精英的自觉、一般民众的觉醒、传播媒介的发达。这种转型并非是三个要素的机械并置,简单相加,而是相互嵌入,以媒体为中介、以观念为引领、以制度作范导、以体制作保障,在政党与公民之间构成一个良性的双向互逆结构。只有在国家与民众的良性互动中,一种充分且公开运用理性以追求公共善、表达公共意志的政治社会才有可能。

Political rights exist in any societies,but they are not necessarily power societies.Only when power is established as the core force of a society,can it become a power society.The power society does not mean that it is a social form with the least principle of justice.Only the society which regards power as a tool for the possession of power to maximize the benefits without the limit of dominance is the society with the principle of justice and a typical power society.Power without limits and restrictions regards politics as a tool of power.With the aid of the ideology deemed to be correct and legitimate,the will of the power is imposed and the will of the state is only the tool and name they borrow.In a society with the purpose of public good,political power is placed within the framework of politics and rationally divides power and use of power properly by virtue of just and effective political ideas,institutions,and system.The transition from a power society to a political society requires three strict conditions,namely,the consciousness of the political elite,the awakening of the general public,and the development of the media.This transformation is not the mechanical juxtaposition of the three elements or the simple addition of them but they are embedded in each other.With the media as the intermediary,the ideas and system as the guide,and the institution as guarantee,a healthy two-way reciprocal structure between political parties and citizens is constituted.However,the possibility and the limit of this transformation are worthy of in-depth analysis.