西方宪政的文化考察及其启示

中国宪政陷入困境的一个主要原因是:我们对于宪政理念的整体把握乏力,对于西方党政的历史及其意义缺乏足够了解和体悟。经过对作为范本的西方宪政进行文化的历史考察,可以认为,保障人权、限制国家权力、政治容纳性、自由、民主和法治,是西方宪政发展历程中形成的历史品格。西方宪政的历史道路给我们的启示是:宪政需要一定的社会、经济、文化条件;根植于不同文化土壤的宪政,可以具备不同的形式、价值内涵和国家政治形式;缺乏法治和权利文化资源的中国,需要寻找一个更高层次的价值,以统摄文化交融时代的宪政理论和实践。

An Observation and Some Insights on Western Constitutional Governance Structures

The major reason behind China's difficulties in constitutional governance lies in the fact that we fail to comprehend the theories of constitutional government forms in their entirety. After making a historic and careful study of some textbook constitutional governmental forms, we conclude that such tenets as the guarantee of human rights, limit of state powers, political tolerance, liberty, democracy and rules by law are the historic characteristics formed in the development of constitutional government structures. Constitutional governance forms require that certain social, economic and cultural conditions be in place and constitutional governance forms rooted in different cultures require different shapes, values and state political establishments. Given the lack of rule of law and power culture resources in China, a higher category of value form is needed to give a guiding hand to the constitutional government theories and practices in China.