比较政治“学”?——学术史与学科性的反思

Comparative Politics:What Kind of a Research Field?

作为美国政治学发展特定进程中形成的、以“外国政治”为研究对象的“学问”,比较政治研究并非一个相对独立的“学科”。本文通过考察美国比较政治研究的“演生史”以及中国政治学科重建以来对“比较政治学”的引进过程,从学问、学科、科学三重意义上,讨论了19世纪末现代政治学逐步成型以来,美国的比较政治研究从“比较政府”到“比较政治”、从“科学自觉”基础上的“学科自觉”到“方法自觉”的发展历程、知识特性与经验教训,力图澄清比较政治研究的若干模糊认识;同时对照美国比较政治“学科化”的经验教训,探讨中国比较政治研究的改善空间与当前任务,即从“学科自觉”迈向“话语自觉”与“知识自觉”。

As a research field which formed in the specific process of the development of American political science and taking foreign national politics as the research object,comparative politics is not a relatively independent discipline.By reviewing the history of American comparative political studies and the process of intellectual import during the revival of the Chinese political science,the essay discusses the development,characteristics,and lessons within the evolution of this research field in terms of knowledge,discipline,and science respectively-from the studies on comparative governments to the comparative political studies and from the discipline identity based on the science consciousness to the consciousness on methods-since the formation of modern political science in the end of the 19 th century.This essay also tries to clarify some vague understandings of comparative politics,and discusses the improvement space of this research field in China by referring to the experience and lessons of comparative politics in the United States.It argues that the current task for the Chinese political scientists is to march toward the consciousness on the academic discourse and knowledge besides the discipline identity.