标题: 中国协商民主制度 [打印本页] 作者: haohao2046_2 时间: 2010-12-10 16:27 标题: 中国协商民主制度 真诚的同意——民主生活的一个关键因素——是讨论或者会议的最终结果。当他们掌握协商的技能和艺术时,民主社会的公民是能够胜任他们的角色要求的。
T. V. Smith and Eduard C. Lindeman (1951:130)
对中国协商民主制度的研究相当有限,这很容易理解,因为大多数研究都集中于讨论乡村和城市的选举(Tianjian Shi 1999, Kevin J. O’Brien (1994), K. O’Brien and Lianjiang Li 2000, Oi and Rozelle 2000; Anne F. Thurston 1998, J. Howell 1998; Unger 2002, Baogang He & Lang Youxing 2002等)。尽管这些研究有助于理解中国地方选举民主的产生、发展及意义,它们把视角仅限于选举也阻碍了对地方民主协商方面的进一步探寻。民主不应仅被理解为自由选举的传播,它还包括建议、参与、协商、公民权、参与范围及真实性等(Dryzek (1996). 更为重要的是,当选举是民主的核心要素时,为了避免多数决定原则的滥用,民主程序需要严格限定在真诚的协商过程中。
本文主要讨论协商过程、协商制度、协商民主,以及它们对中国地方治理的意义(见Baogang He 2003)。本文引言部分首先介绍说明中国近来协商制度的实践,并解释说明中国对协商的理解。接着讨论主要的协商制度形式、概括它们的主要特征、并比较这些制度对协商的影响。也会考察和协商制度有关的问题及地方解决这些问题的战略。本文最后部分将综合讨论民主理论及中国实践对彼此的意义。
村民代表会被当成是个监督机构。在一些乡村,村民代表会有对财务和其他事务的监督小组。财务小组由7个人组成,负责检查监督所有的财务交易及收支行为。村民委员会也被视为是协商机构。通过他们的代表,村民能够对所有影响村的主要决策产生影响,而在过去,他们被排除在决策过程外。就如白钢 (Bai Gang 1996)指出,有两个原因,使得少数干部控制乡村事务变得更加困难。一是村民代表能够就不想要的提案有效行使否决权,另一是,代表可以提出他们自己的提案。村民代表会也被定义为是咨询机构。例如,根据屯溪乡自我管理规定,村民委员会是乡村党委领导下的民主咨询机构,在对乡村事务进行民主管理时。在温州,如果某项支出超过5000元,必须征求村民代表会的意见(O’Biren, 1994: 45)。
我曾经比较过协商制度形式、它们的规则、方法及程序、目标、人员(人数,他们如何被选出,或自愿形成)、会议的频繁次数、利害相关程度、影响、监督、动员、控制范围、真实性和协商程度等等(Baogang He 2003: 304)。我早期的评价如下表1所示。这种比较主要关注的是特定的制度对协商的影响((Mansbridge 1999),以及如果作出一些改进的话,特定的协商制度如何才能实现更大程度上的协商。我发现,在村代表大会上,更高的协商程度、更高的真实性和更高的效率相关。真实性提高协商水平,进而帮助更有效和合法的治理。
Gunnell (1986)和其他许多人提出应整合政治理论和社会及政治实践。然而,就如Dryzek and Goodin所揭示的,在西方的协商理论和实践间还有相当的差异。民主理论和对民主实践的研究依然各行其道,甚至到了互相损害的地步。因此,对学者们来说,在西方的民主理论和中国的协商制度实践间搭座桥,以相互促进,就显得尤为紧迫。理论可以从实践中学习,反之亦然。
然而,国家动员有一个致命的缺陷,它产生形式主义。就拿温岭市来说,大约30-50%的协商会议没有意义 。某城市社区签订了一项关于如何为不同的社会团体分配有限的空间的合同,它被潦草地写在半页纸上,它是社会团体间通过协商讨论达成的真诚共识的结果。但地方政府想把所有现存的自制合同标准化为打印的形式。因此,它们用优美的语言为市民和村民委员会写草稿,并让他们修改并签定合同。结果,公众协商就失去了原有的性质,变得形式化了。总之,国家组织的协商是不真实的,也不具强的说服力(Fung and Wright 2003)。人们不可能在国家发起的协商中发现高水平的真实性。为了提高协商的质量,必须依赖普通百姓、民间组织和协会参与基层的协商过程。
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