卢梭人民主权的理想图景与实现路径

The Ideal Prospect and the Realization Path of Rousseau's Popular Sovereignty Theory

卢梭的人民主权理论一方面需要从卢梭政治哲学的整个理论体系加以把握,另一方面还必须从《社会契约论》的内在论证逻辑中探寻。卢梭人民主权理论的起点是他在《论人类不平等的起源》中所描绘的自然状态,而终点则是卢梭心目中那个以日内瓦为原型的理想化的共和国。当人类不可避免地从自然状态走入公民社会,一个基于全体一致同意的社会契约为政治权力提供了正当性论证。人们签订这个基于全体一致同意的社会契约的目的是为了实现自由平等,社会契约的内容是囊括了所有人意志的公意。主权是公意的运用,公意是主权的内容,而法律是公意的表达,是主权行使的唯一方式。政府是主权的执行者,一方面人民需要政府来迫使臣民服从公意,另一方面人民又必须防范政府背离公意。为此,卢梭要求人民通过定期集会来维护主权权威,防范政府背离公意。但卢梭同样意识到人民自身也可能腐坏,因而在人民大会之外还提出了作为主权机构外部保障的国家制度来保障真正人民主权的实现。

To understanding Rousseau's Popular Sovereignty Theory, we must enter into Rousseau's political philosophy system as well as the inner logic of Social Contract. The starting point of his Popular Sovereignty Theory is natural state as he described in Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, and the goal is an idealized Republic based on Geneva. When humans inevitably enter civil society from the nature state, the social contract all agree to provides legitimacy to political power. The people sign the social contract is for free and equal, so the content of the social contract is general will. Sovereignty is the application of the general will, and the general will is the content of sovereignty. Law is the expression of general will, the only way to exercise sovereignty. The government is the executor of sovereignty, on the one hand, the people need government to compel the individuals to submit to general will, on the other hand, the people must guard against government deviation from general will. Therefore, Rousseau required the people meeting regular to safeguard the authority of popular sovereignty. But Rousseau also realized the possibility of corruption of the people, so he put forward a set of state institutions outside the people's congress to insure popular sovereignty.