专制主义视角下的霍光权力与刘贺立废

An Analysis of Huo Guang s Power and Liu He s Being Enthroned and Dethroned from the Perspective of Absolutism

汉武帝托孤是霍光权威地位形成的根本原因,其他辅政大臣或去世或谋反被诛,客观上使霍光掌握了绝对权力。武帝遗制,汉廷行政运转以中朝为主,外朝为辅,其中霍光又是整个辅政机制的核心,具有最终的决定权。“政事壹决于光”等相关记载,实质是这一机制的体现,是武帝遗诏赋予他的职责。刘贺的行为与当时的社会形势及霍光的执政理念发生了不可调和的矛盾,故而旋即被废。霍光十分重“名”,即历史对自己的评价,这对昭宣时期重大政治事件的处理方式及政治走向产生了至关重要的影响。集权威与权力于一身的霍光的政治作为表明,在古代专制政体下,历史评价是约束权力的制度性因素之一。

That Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty entrusted his offspring to Huo Guang is the fundamental reason for the establishment of the latter s authority.Objectively,absolute power fell into the hand of Huo as all the other assisting ministers passed away or got killed for rebellion.According to the administrative system of Emperor Wu,the inner court played a leading role in administration with the support of the outer court.At the core of the supporting mechanism,Huo Guang retained the power for final decision-making.This mechanism reveals itself in such records as“political decisions were finalized by Guang”,and decision-making was the responsibility entitled by the testamentary edict of Emperor Wu.Liu He s lifestyle conflicted irreversibly with the then social realities and Huo Guang s governance concept,resulting in Liu s immediate dethronement.Huo Guang paid too much attention to his“fame”,i.e.,how subsequent history would evaluate him,which exerted a critical impact on his wrestling with major political incidents and political trend during the reign of Emperor Zhao and Emperor Xuan.The political maneuver of Huo Guang,who held both authority and power,demonstrates that historical evaluation is one of the institutional factors for restraining power under ancient autocracy.