现代国家的构成

The Formation of the Modern State

对“原初国家”的各种解释往往难以继续适用于现代国家。理解现代政治的兴衰,重要的不是探究现代国家的第一因,而是探究现代国家的构成。在政治学的不同视角下,现代国家的构成模式不同,国家性及其维系纽带也不同。制度视角和结构视角侧重现代国家的外在手段:国家如何站在最高处,垄断包括物理暴力和物质工具在内的外在手段,建立相对于社会分工的政治分工,形成相对于社会组织的权威性、自主性;理性视角和文化视角侧重现代国家的内在理由:国家如何建构权威的中立性,谋求支配的正当性,塑造自身的能动性,以及国家就此遭遇何种挑战,国家为什么并不总能站在最高处。这四种视角共同塑造了现代国家构成的问题域,使之成为理解现代国家及其国家性变迁的出发点。它们彼此之间的融合、竞争和冲突,推动着人们对理想政治秩序的构想与构建。

Researchers find it difficult to apply the various explanations of the traditional state to the modern state.To understand the rise and fall of modern politics,what is important is not to explore the first cause of the modern state,but the formation of the modern state.Under different political science perspectives,the modern state is constituted in different modes,and stateness and its sustaining bonds are also different.The institutional and structural perspective focus on the external means of the modern state:how the state stands on the top,monopolizing external means including physical violence and material tools;how it establishes a political division of labor relative to the social division of labor and forms authority and autonomy relative to social organization;the rational and cultural perspective focus on the internal reasons of the modern state:how the state constructs the neutrality of authority,seeks the legitimacy of domination,shapes its own agency,and what challenges the state encounters in these aspects,and why it does not always stand on the top.Together,they shape the problematic domains of modern state formation,making it the starting point for understanding the modern state and the transformation of its stateness.Their convergence,competition,and conflict with each other advance the conception and construction of the ideal political order.