差异性的制度化:国家间制度性不平等探源

Institutionalization of Differences:The Origins of Institutional Inequality of States

国家间制度性不平等根源于国家间客观差异被转化为制度安排。因此,以“差异性的制度化”逻辑为核心构建的理论模型,可以有效揭示国家间制度性不平等的生产与再生产原理。首先,通过成员标准、资源分配及制度扩散等微观机制,国家间平等或不平等的制度关系得以生产和再生产;其次,对国家间差异的价值判断,即权势逻辑或责任逻辑,是微观机制能够引发宏观的平等或不平等效应的重要动力;最后,权势逻辑和责任逻辑均以国家实力为基础,为发达国家以责任之名行权势之实提供了便利。结合政治、经济与可持续发展三个维度的简要历史考察,可以证明理论框架的有效性,并揭示国家间制度性不平等的发展趋势,即可持续发展的兴起正在破解国家间制度性不平等。在国际力量对比朝着有利于发展中国家方向发展的背景下,中国积极推动构建人类命运共同体,已经并将继续为破解国家间制度性不平等贡献中国智慧和中国方案。

Institutional inequality among states(IIS)refers to the process in which differences among states,namely,the original and developmental inequalities,are fixed,maintained,spread,and even changed by institutional arrangements.In other words,objective differences are translated into institutional outcomes.Based on the conceptualization of“institutionalization of differences”process,the author tries to build a theoretical framework for explaining IIS.At the micro level,institutional relations among states,equal or unequal,are the product of the combination of membership standards based on specific differences of countries and corresponding resource allocation arrangements,and its reproduction is basically driven by an institutional diffusion mechanism.What drives micro mechanisms to produce macro effects is the power or responsibility logic of states’objective differences.The power perspective on differences leads to the power logic of member standard and exploitative resource allocation arrangement,and the resulting IIS is consolidated or changed by institutional diffusion.The responsibility perspective on differences has the potential to shape the responsibility logic of member standard and compensatory resource allocation arrangements,and the subsequent institutional diffusion may further alleviate the inequality among countries.Since both power and responsibility understandings are based on national strength,the logic of responsibility is often replaced by the logic of power,thus IIS becomes dominant in international relations.The historical investigation confirms the theoretical explanation and reveals the trend of logistic regression of responsibility logic and strengthening of institutional equality among states.China has contributed and will continue to contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to institutional equality among states.