治道思维下的制度观:韩非子“对话”西方新制度主义者

Institutions from the Perspective of National Governance: A Dialogue between Chinese Legalist Han Feizi and Western Neo-Institutionalists

在治道思维下,韩非子的“法治”学说和西方新制度主义者关于体制稳定性的“制度转向”研究都秉持制度工具论。韩非子的“法”与现代学者笔下的“制度”都具有约束性和规范性,都是统治和治理的工具。在治国理政层面,韩非子和西方新制度主义者在制度的功能、制度起作用的条件和机制、制度的时间性和演化等问题上都有精彩的交锋。韩非子看重“治官”和“治民”;西方学者则强调权力配置和社会管治。韩非子认为,“法”需要“势”和“术”的配合才能起作用;西方学者也意识到,制度内嵌于各种结构和关系之中,受到人的观念和选择的影响。韩非子在时间观上秉持历史进步论,认为法令要随时代变化而调整;“制度转向”研究基本遵循理性选择逻辑,体现出静态和断裂的时间观。

What functions can institutions perform for national governance? How do institutions exactly work? Under what conditions can institutions function well? Why do institutions fail? Both Chinese Legalists and Western studies on institutions have important insights on these issues. From comparative and historical perspectives, this article compares both sides’ thoughts on the institutional foundation of national governance. It finds that Chinese Legalists(particularly Han Feizi) and Western neo-institutionalists have wonderful “debates” on the microfoundations of institutions, institutional functions, working mechanisms of institutions, endogeneity of the effects of institutions, supporting conditions for institutional effects, and the temporality of institutions. The dialogue between Han Feizi and neo-institutionalists suggests that institutions do not work alone, rather, they are embedded in various structures and relations and influenced by agents’ ideas and choices, and we need to make a distinction among institutional forms, institutional functions, and institutional performance.