通过立法推进德治:强制抑或自律——以地方文明行为促进条例立法为例

Promoting Moral Governance Through Legislation:Mandatory Enforcement or Self-Discipline?-A Case Study of Local Legislation on Promoting Civilized Behavior

在文明急剧变迁时期,道德规范也不得不随之而发生急剧变化。在社会生活变迁之际,由于文化的惯性和保守性带来的“文化滞后”现象,有必要由政府推进道德建设。中国式现代化进程中,乡村生活转变为城市生活,农耕文明过渡到工业文明,一些旧习俗旧道德不适应新的社会生活需要,而新的习俗和道德尚未完全建立起来。在这种变化中,传统德治的调控效果在减弱,道德领域的运动式治理开始兴起。由于运动式治理的可持续性和规范性较弱,通过立法推进德治在道德指引、长效机制、外在约束、引导道德发展等方面显现出诸多治理优势。不过,通过立法强行推进道德建设,既存在不能增进道德意识和培育非规范性道德等局限,又存在立法上强制界限不明、多元道德观念引发冲突、法律实施的成本制约等难题。在推进强制道德建设存在局限和难题但又不能放任不管时,各地方人民代表大会颁布的文明行为促进条例是第三条发展道路,即通过以教育为主的温和立法来促进德治,其表现形式是指明目标,铺设道路,政府推动,方式灵活。“文明行为促进法”的定位应当超越强制和自律的两难境地,通过淡化强制、加强治理,以教育为导向、以实现自律为目的来促进社会文明行为的发生。

In times of rapid changes in civilization,moral norms are inevitably undergoing dramatic changes.As the social life is changing,with the appearance of cultural lag due to cultural inertia and conservatism,it becomes necessary for the government to promote moral development.In the process of advancing Chinese modernization,as rural life is transformed into urban life,and agricultural civilization is transitioned into industrial civilization,some outdated customs and moral norms have not adapted to the needs of new social life,while new customs and moral norms have not yet been fully established.During such changes,the regulatory effect of traditional moral governance is weakening,and the campaign-style moral governance is emerging.Due to the lack of sustainability and standardization in the campaign-style governance,promoting moral governance through legislation shows its governance advan-tages in terms of moral guidance,long-term mechanisms,external constraints,and guiding moral develop-ment.Nevertheless,the mandatory promotion of moral development through legislation not only has its limitations such as failing to enhance moral awareness and cultivate non-normative morality but also has difficulties such as the unclear boundaries of mandatory enforcement in the legislation,conflicts arising from diverse moral concepts,and cost constraints of law enforcement.In the face of the limitations and difficulties of mandatory moral development while it should not be left unchecked,a third way is the regulations on promoting civilized behavior adopted by the local people's congress.That is,moral gover-nance is promoted through moderate legislation mainly in the form of education,which is manifested as specifying objectives,paving the way,government promotion,and flexible approaches.The positioning of civilized behavior promotion act should transcend the dilemma of mandatory enforcement and self-discipline,and social civilized behavior should be promoted by downplaying mandatory enforce-ment,strengthening governance,and adopting education-oriented approaches for the purpose of achieving self-discipline.