英美地方自治制度比较研究

【作者】 龚文婧；

【导师】 刘春；

【作者基本信息】 中共中央党校 ， 政治学理论， 2011， 博士

【摘要】 地方自治制度与地方分权改革是民主发展达到一定程度时,对政治结构形式与政治体制的重新认识,是一种较高程度的民主制度建设。地方自治传统的产生历史悠久,这一制度的产生发展与历史传统的关系是认识地方自治制度的重要内容,它揭示了这一制度产生的源头与发展过程中的规律。本文从历史观念的角度出发分析问题,主要集中在两个方面。一方面,选取制度产生具有悠久历史的国家进行分析,英美两国都是地方自治传统深厚的国家,以这两国为研究对象更有利于看清这一制度发展的全貌;另一方面,对制度进行不局限于一国一个时期的分析,而是进行制度发展历史脉络的研究,对正在使用和发展的制度进行理性的分析和合理的解释。本文将英美两国具有地方自治传统的国家作为一种模式进行研究,主要是出于历史制度主义的研究方法进行的分类,将两国的地方自治制度的形成与发展看作是“自下而上”建立的,在相似传统中寻找差异与共性更有利于对地方自治制度进行深入的研究。同时,英美两国都拥有较为先进的政治文化和较发达的政治体系,以这两国为样本进行研究对这一制度整体的发展具有代表性。地方自治制度不仅是实现传统自治精神的现实选择,还是实现民主政治的重要途径,其建立与发展在发达国家的尝试与经验对发展中国家具有示范效应和借鉴意义。地方自治由于世界各国国情、历史文化传统各不相同,而且地方事务纷繁庞杂,所以有从不同方面、不同角度及不同侧重点对其进行定义具有一定的合理和客观性,而难以在一个定义中将其全面涵盖。本文试图从两个层次上对地方自治的概念进行界定。制度层面上,从中央、地方、社会、个人的政治理念、法律制度关系去界定。实际运作过程层面上,从地方政府的表现方式与实现途径的变迁、在特定环境中地方网络成员的互动关系及地方自治目标与行动的互动关系去界定。本文试图从政治制度的静态及动态角度较为全面客观的去理解地方自治的内涵。地方自治是一整套关于地方自我管理、决策的制度、法律和规范,以及围绕规范展开的各种政府行为和相关主体间的互动模式。地方自治权作为一种政治权力存在必有其合法性来源,本文主要介绍了固有权说、国家确认说和人民主权说。地方自治的价值与意义在于它是人权原则的政治实现途径,是民主价值的必然要求,是妥善处理中央与地方利益关系的重要手段。本文并不企图将英美两国地方自治的历史全貌进行复述,而是选择几个具有代表性的阶段分析制度形成原因,重点在研究这一类模式地方自治制度当代发展的特点与趋势。英国有着悠久的地方自治传统,这一制度的形成发展是伴随着法治化与议会主权为特色的,根据中央与地方的权力关系主要分为传统地方自治制度建立形成时期、20世纪80年代中央权力回收时期、20世纪末工党宪政改革下的权力下放时期。在不同的时期权力对比中,主要使用历史制度主义的分析指标——利益、观念、制度的角度,分别对每个时期为何形成具有代表性特点的原因进行横向的分析,在横向与纵向的交叉中探寻当代英国地方自治制度的历史积淀。英国地方自治制度在新近的改革与现状中表现出新的特点:通过建立和完善地方自治制度解决民族问题,中央政府对地方政府的分权化改革以及地方政府在实现地方自治的效果中进行的种种改革。美国地方自治的生产生活方式是在其建国前各个地方就形成的,以一种自愿结成的乡镇自治生活为特点,并“自下而上”将之确定为国家法律予以推行,成为一种公共政治生活的准则。美国中央与地方的权力关系没有明确的代表性阶段,而是在其地方自治传统形成后,经常处于权力的调整状态中。本文意在给地方自治权力的形成与调整厘清各自的原因,同样以利益、观念、制度的角度进行历史制度主义的横向与纵向交叉分析。美国当代地方自治制度在历史与现实条件下呈现出新特点:地方自治与分权的新动向是由解决人口集中区域政府面临的问题时所引发的,新联邦主义不仅在联邦与州层面上运用,还在州与地方的新关系上起原则性作用,地方政府在管理方面进行的一系列适应地方自治的变革。英美两国地方自治模式虽然有相似的历史发展脉络,都是具有共同的自下而上建立地方自治制度的基础,两国具有共同的政治文化基础和相似的制度基础,在近当代都出现国家权力的回收现象,重新重视基层地方政府或组织的力量,在总体上趋向一种中央与地方权力均衡发展的状态。但二者仍有各自不同特点,主要表现在:地方政府自治权的法律来源不同,拥有地方自治权的组织机构不同,地方政府选举中政党因素的影响程度不同,两国对地方政府职能权限不同,两国对地方政府的监督方式有所不同。本文在对英美模式的地方自治制度情况进行全面了解和从历史制度主义的角度进行深入分析后,对此模式地方自治制度的当代发展中面临的难题进一步总结与思考,对传统的政治理念和政治要素提出挑战,并指出了由此引发的适应现代政治模式与理念的重新定位。其主要表现在:第一,由地方自治制度引发的对公民权的重新思考,地方自治的实践使公民权到底是源于地方团体认同还是个人主义的追求?公民权是通过地方政治参与实现还是通过国家政治选举实现?这些争论开始被重提,同样也是经过英美地方自治的实践,提出了争论解决的对策,即地方自治制度的发展与完善,也是一种将个人主义的追求融入到地方团体的认同中去的过程。政治参与与民主选举在不同层面上对实现公民权具有重要作用,事实证明,民主选举在实现国家层面的公民权方面更有效,其他形式的各种政治参与在地方自治中具有开创性意义。矛盾能够化解为一个问题的两个方面。第二,地方自治制度发展引发的地方政府的角色转变可能产生两方面的问题,在重视效率问题时可能出现价值问题,在重视价值问题时可能出现效率问题,制度设计与实践总会产生理想与现实的差异,但这些差异并不一定都是消极的,有可能激发积极的结果。第三,地方自治制度引发的社会治理的发展以及治理主体权威多中心化产生的对国家传统的政治要素与权力结构的冲击与变化,主要表现在传统国家形态发生变迁和传统政治参与主体出现的变化。综上所述,本文主要以研究英美模式地方自治制度的历史形成发展原因为基础,深入分析两国这一制度的差异与共同点,更明确的揭示这一制度当代发展的特点与发展趋势以及由此引发的政治理念方面的新思考。本文的目的不仅在于地方自治制度发展的历史进行疏理,而且试图对这一制度的发展趋势进行前瞻性思考与研究;不仅能对制度本身及现阶段的政治实践具有剖析作用,而且能对这地方自治制度在其它国家的运用具有启示意义。更多还原

【Abstract】 When democracy developed to a certain level, people renewed their viewpoints about political structures and systems, and then established new sophisticated forms of democracy construction, namely regional autonomy and decentralization. With a long history of evolution, the relationship between the new forms and those traditional ones of political democracy presents vital information for us to study regional autonomy, which tells us both its original point and the developing laws. Within a framework of evolution, the thesis presents two aspects of analysis. On the one hand, the author intends to figure out a comprehensive picture of the development of regional autonomy with the case-studying of U.S. and Britain, which are two countries deeply rooted in the tradition of regional autonomy. On the other hand, the author further deliberates on an assumption that we should not focus only on studying a certain period of a country, but need to broaden our envision throughout its whole history of development. Only after a fulfilled research like this, we could conduct objective analysis and work out a reasonable interpretation about regional autonomy.The reason why the author uses the cases of U.S. and Britain as the studying models is that the thesis is based on a division in terms of historical institutionalism. In this thesis, the development of regional autonomy in the two countries is viewed as a top-down process and then the similarities and differences of the same systems in the two countries could provide profound conception on regional autonomy. Furthermore, the cases of U.S. and Britain are of highly representative models for us to study regional autonomy because of the advanced political culture and strong political systems of the two countries. As we know, regional autonomy is not only a realistic choice to execute the ideas of traditional autonomy, but also a vital method through which countries implement democracy. Therefore, an analysis on the experiment and experiences learned from the endeavor to establish and develop it would generate demonstrative effects and useful significance for developing countries to carry out regional autonomy.To definite the complex picture of regional autonomy from various aspects, angels and focuses in countries with different national conditions and historical traditions is a task, though proved objective and reasonable, difficult to accomplish. For example, the difficulty of definition may come from the complexity of two methods used in the thesis. One method used is to definite regional autonomy under the guidance of the ideas of central & local government and individuals, or within the framework of studying the relationship between political ideas and laws; the other method, from a rather practical angel, means to definite autonomy from the changes of the forms to implementing power by local governments, the interactive effect among local network members and that between the objective and implementation of regional autonomy as well. Additionally, with the combination of the researches on static and dynamic characteristic of political systems, the thesis is designed to explain contents of regional autonomy from a relatively comprehensive viewpoint. Generally, regional autonomy comprises a series of systems, laws and principles of the self-governance in regions, actions taken by local governments, and various interactive models between related subjects.The author intends to explain the legitimacy of regional autonomy as a form of political power from some famous theories such as the academic schools of advocating the inherent power in regional autonomy, recognition for its power, system guarantees and people’s sovereignty in implementing autonomy. The great significance can be induced from its role as an effective political measure to realize human rights and a necessary requirement to realize the values of democracy. At the same time, it also embodies the highest target of decentralization and manifests the significance of federalism.Instead of retelling the history of regional autonomy in U.S. and Britain, the author chooses several representative stages to analyze the factors driving the establishment of various systems, with the focus on the characteristics and trends of the very type of regional autonomy. In Britain, the long history of regional autonomy is characteristic of the parallel development of law-ruling and parliamentary sovereignty. In terms of the relationship between central and local powers, its evolution can be cut into three periods, namely that of formation of traditional local autonomic systems, returning of power to the central government in the 1980s and transferring power to local governments under the rule of Labor Party during the constitutional reform in the late 20th century. While contrasting the situation of power exercising in different periods, the author also researches the nature of regional autonomy by horizontal comparison of some indexes, such as interests, concepts and systems, of historical institutionalism. Which one became the top characteristic of regional autonomy in a certain period and what caused the situation would also be researched in the thesis. On the whole, the author analyzes the historical sedimentation of regional autonomy in Britain through both horizontal and vertical comparisons. After a series of reforms, the regional autonomy in Britain has showed a new characteristic. The characteristic lies in the fact that people change to consider ethnic problems in terms of those in regional autonomy, thus solve them on framework of the construction of the later. At the same time, the author also illustrates decentralization endeavors conducted by the central government and reforms made by local ones to realize regional autonomy.When it comes to the case of U.S., we could find out that the life style implementing regional autonomy formed in most areas of the country before U.S. was formally established. Taking the form of autonomy in both villages and towns voluntarily, regional autonomy is conducted as top-to-down national laws and performs as a principle of public politics. In the evolution of the relationship between central and local governments, no clear divisions could be found and the power exercising is ever-adjusting after the tradition of regional autonomy was established. Therefore, the author tries to explore the establishment and adjustment of regional autonomy and the causes behind them, based on horizontal and vertical comparison of some indexes of historical institutionalism. Nowadays, regional autonomy in U.S. has assumed a new characteristic which lies in the fact that it are the troubles faced by metropolitan governments that determine how regional autonomy will develop in the future. Besides, neo-federalism is not only implemented at federal level but also provides guidance on how local and state governments should interact with each other.Overall, we could find great similarity in the development of regional autonomy in U.S. and Britain, which comes mainly from the facts that autonomy models of the two countries developed down similar historical traces and were based on common political culture and systems. Besides, the return of power to central governments in modern times and putting emphasis again on grass-root organizations or governments together made situation in the two countries almost the same. The last aspect of similarity may be induces from the balanced development between central and local power-exercising in the two countries. Nevertheless, there still exists great difference in the situation of the two countries, which is demonstrated such aspects as the law origins of local autonomy, the organizations endowed with regional autonomy, the influence exerted by political parties in local election and the supervision imposed on local governments.Based on above-mentioned researches, the author will further sum up and ponder over various troubles face by regional autonomy, thus posing great challenges for traditional political ideas and elements. The thesis concludes that we should re-set our thinking on political models and ideas that are more suitable for the social development in the future. We should rethink following issues. Firstly, people should rethink about problems of civil rights, namely its exercise springs from collective recognition or individualism after the practice of regional autonomy? Are civil rights realized through participation in politics or national elections? These issues are posed again and the countermeasures to solve them are figured out by exercising regional autonomy. One of these measures is improvement of it at local level, which means integrating individualism into collective recognition. Compared with political participation, national elections could play a larger role in realization of civil rights. At the same time, other forms of political participation could make pioneering contribution for regional autonomy, solving the contradiction as two aspects of an issue.Secondly, two problems may be generated from the role transformation of local governments triggered by the development of regional autonomy, that is, the value may be depreciated while emphasizing on effects and vice versa. The disparity between design and practice is not necessarily negative and may contribute to regional autonomy sometimes. Thirdly, regional autonomy could improve social governance. At the same time, the multi-centralized authority of governing subjects may bring about challenges on the traditional political elements and power structure, which are evident in the changes of traditional national formation and subjects of political participation.In a word, the thesis intends to analyze the similarity and difference between U.S. and Britain through reviewing the development of regional autonomy and those causes behind it. In this way, the author tries to explain clearly the characteristics of regional autonomy and its trends, and rethink various political ideas. The thesis not only combs the history of regional autonomy, but also forecast its future possibilities. With these efforts, the author hopes not only to provide an in-depth analysis on regional autonomy and its status-quo, but also to bring enlightenment for its exercise in other countries.更多还原