论当代法律帝国主义的本质及其表征——以列宁《帝国主义论》为方法论视角

Essence and Features of Contemporary Legal Imperialism: Viewed from the Methodological Perspective Provided by Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

列宁为"十月革命"进行理论准备和思想引领所著的《帝国主义是资本主义的最高阶段》,为我们研究帝国主义的经济、政治、法律和文化,提供了重要的世界观和方法论指引。列宁认为,帝国主义是资本主义的垄断阶段。在帝国主义的五大基本特征中,其最本质的特征是垄断。垄断也是法律帝国主义的本质特征。当代法律帝国主义的本质是:一个或者少数几个超级大国垄断了涉及处理国际间经济、政治、文化、军事关系规则(法律)的制定权、执行权和"司法权",并以此控制和支配国际秩序,从而维护自己的霸权利益。在当代法律帝国主义的话语体系中,美国是当今世界法律帝国主义的代表。法律帝国主义以自己的垄断地位而获得霸权,通过霸权而获得主导地位并实现和维护美国和西方的"共同利益"。其当代表征是:经济垄断是法律帝国主义的坚实基础,法律输出成为法律帝国主义维护霸权的重要工具,价值观宣导是法律帝国主义的意识形态功能,双重标准成为法律帝国主义的非法"法治"的重要特征,通过武装干涉以实现法律帝国主义的军事霸权。美苏在二战以后的两霸之争,以苏联的解体和美国的胜利而告结束。但是,在美国成为世界上唯一的霸主的同时,也宣告了法律帝国主义衰落时代的来临。在这样的背景下,任何国家企图垄断世界治理权,已经是一种不合时宜的错误战略。

The book, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, which Lenin wrote in order to make theoretical preparation and ideological guidance for the October Revolution, provides us with an important world outlook and methodological guidelines for studying the economic, political, legal and cultural aspects of imperialism. Lenin believed that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism. In the five basic characteristics of imperialism, the most essential one is the monopoly, which is also the essential characteristic of legal imperialism. The essence of contemporary legal imperialism is that one or a few superpowers monopolize the rights to the formulation, enforcement, and jurisdiction of rules(laws) governing the handling of international economic, political, cultural and military relations, control the international order, and thus safeguard their hegemonic interests. In the discourse system of contemporary legal imperialism, the United States is the representative of legal imperialism in the world today. Legal imperialism gains the hegemony through monopoly, then takes the leadership, and realizes and maintains 'the common interests' of the United States and the West by hegemony. Legal imperialism shows the following characteristics in the contemporary era: the economic monopoly is the solid foundation of legal imperialism; the legal output becomes an important tool for the maintenance of hegemony by legal imperialism; the propaganda of values plays an ideological function of legal imperialism; taking double standards is an important feature of the illegal 'rule of law' embedded in legal imperialism; and the military hegemony is used to realize legal imperialism through armed intervention. The dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union after the Second World War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the victory of the United States. However, when the United States became the only superpower in the world, the legal imperialism was also declared to undergo its inevitable decline. Against this background, any attempt to monopolize the right to govern the world by one country is an anachronistic wrong strategic choice.