房宁：从实际出发推进中国民主政治建设（中英对照）

三

III

回溯历史，观察现实，无论在西方还是发展中国家，探索和建立适合自己国情的民主形式都不会一帆风顺，而要受到诸多历史与现实条件的制约。中国的民主政治建设之路也是如此。对于中国民主的未来发展，我们既要坚定不移又要客观冷静，坚持从实际出发，根据以往经验，实现积极稳妥的发展。在今后一个时期，考虑到工业化发展的阶段性等诸多历史与现实条件制约，中国的民主政治建设的总体策略应该是积极稳妥地扩大和推进有序政治参与和民主协商，建立、完善权力制约和监督体系。

The lesson that we can draw from both history and the present is that no country’s efforts to explore and develop a form of democracy that is geared to its own national conditions will be plain sailing. As has been the case in both Western countries and developing countries, this process will be restricted by a host of historical and contemporary factors. This is also true with regard to China’s efforts to develop democracy. Therefore, we need to remain resolute, objective, and calm in our efforts to develop democracy, striving to achieve active yet prudent development on the basis of both reality and prior experiences. For a period of time to come, the development of democracy in China will continue to be restricted by a number of historical and contemporary factors, such as the phase of industrialization that we are currently experiencing. Our overall strategy in this regard should be to actively yet prudently expand and promote orderly political participation and democratic consultation, and to establish and improve systems for the restriction and supervision of power.

第一，分层次扩大有序政治参与。坚持和完善人民代表大会制度，不断发展和完善中国特色社会主义民主。政治参与是民主政治的一项重要内容。我国政治参与的主要途径是政策性参与，即通过民意征询系统，把国家的法律与政策建立在征询和反映人民群众意愿的基础之上，通过征询人民群众的意愿，使党的执政方略和各级政权的政策法规能够准确反映和代表各族人民的根本利益。实行分层次的政治参与是保证政治参与有序性的关键。民主政治需要有人民群众的政治参与，但信息不对称、经验不对称和利益局限性在客观上限制了人民群众进行政治参与的范围和能力。分层次政治参与方式是克服和超越群众参与局限性的根本方法，它以利益相关性、信息充分性和责任连带性为标准设计和确定政治参与的主体、对象和方式。通过区分不同的政治事务，以利益相关程度、信息掌握程度和责任连带程度为尺度，引导相关性强的群体及代表进行分层次的政治参与。这既从总体上保证了人民群众参与国家政治生活的权利，又可防止参与的无效与混乱。

Firstly, we need to expand orderly political participation on different levels. We should adhere to and improve the system of people’s congresses in a continued effort to develop and improve socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics. Political participation represents an important aspect of democracy. China’s major approach to political participation is to ensure participation in decision-making. That is to say, national laws and policies are established on the basis of public will, which is ascertained through a system that allows us to solicit and reflect the opinions of the public. By soliciting the opinions of the public, we are able to ensure that the governance principles of the CPC and the policies and regulations of authorities at all levels correctly reflect and represent the fundamental interests of people from all ethnic groups. Multi-layered political participation is the key to ensuring the orderliness of political participation. Although the political participation of the general public constitutes an essential part of democracy, the capacity of the public to participate and the range of this participation are restricted by the asymmetry of information and experience and by limitations with respect to interests. Multi-layered political participation represents the fundamental means of overcoming and transcending the limitations of public participation. This approach determines the subjects, objects, and means of political participation on the basis of the relevance of interests, the adequacy of information, and the assumption of responsibility. On the basis of distinguishing between different types of political affairs, and by taking the relevance of interests, adequacy of information, and assumption of responsibilities as the criteria, we guide the multi-layered political participation of the relevant groups and their representatives. In addition to guaranteeing people’s right to participate in the political affairs of the state on an overall basis, this approach allows us to avoid the ineffectiveness and disorder that could result from such participation.

第二，推进协商民主，提高协商民主质量。党的十八大首次确认协商民主概念，提出完善协商民主的制度和工作机制，把推进协商民主的广泛、多层、制度化发展作为未来民主政治建设的重点。发展协商民主，需要进一步扩大协商民主范围，推进协商民主的体制化、制度化建设，提升协商民主的质量。在未来发展中国式协商民主的进程中，社情民意的客观、准确、全面的发现和反映机制是一项重要相关制度，应纳入中国民主政治建设的议事日程，加速建设中国的社情民意调查系统。

Secondly, we need to promote consultative democracy and enhance its quality. Officially recognizing the concept of consultative democracy for the first time, the report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party called for improvements to the institutions and work mechanisms of consultative democracy, and defined the extensive, multilevel, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy as the focus of future efforts to develop democracy. In an effort to develop consultative democracy further, we need to expand the range of consultative democracy, promote the development of systems and institutions for the realization of consultative democracy, and work to enhance the quality of consultative democracy. A highly relevant task during our efforts to develop Chinese-style consultative democracy in the future will be to establish mechanisms for the discovery and reflection of public opinion in an objective, accurate, and comprehensive manner. This task should be placed on China’s agenda for the development of democracy, so as to accelerate the establishment of a system for the surveying of public opinion.

第三，建设和加强权力制约和民主监督体系。权力制衡的基本原理是相同或相似的权力主体间的相互监督和制约，而民主监督的基本原理是授权者或被代表的主体对于委托者或代理人的监督和制约。权力制衡和民主监督是两个性质不同、功能相近的制约与监督政治权力的管理机制，在未来的民主建设中需要进一步加强。

Thirdly, we need to develop and strengthen systems for restricting power and conducting democratic supervision. The basic principle of checks and balances is the mutual supervision and restriction of similar subjects of power. The basic principle of democratic supervision, on the other hand, is the supervision and restriction of the authorized by the authorizer and the representative by the represented. Checks and balances and democratic supervision represent two inherently different yet functionally similar administrative mechanisms for restricting and supervising political power. Both need to be enhanced in our future efforts to develop democracy.

历史和现实经验一再昭示，推进中国的民主政治建设，必须从中国实际出发，根据自身实践经验而不是根据“本本”或西方的价值理念，这是建设和发展中国民主政治的根本之道。经过长期反复的实践探索，中国已经形成适应当前发展阶段、符合未来发展要求的比较系统的民主政治制度体系。我们坚信，只要坚定不移地沿着中国特色社会主义民主政治道路继续探索前进，中国的未来将是光明的，大有希望的。

Experience has repeatedly demonstrated that China’s efforts to develop democracy must be founded on China’s actual circumstances and on its own experiences as opposed to political dogma or Western values. This represents the fundamental approach to establishing and developing China’s democracy. Through its long-term efforts and explorations, China has succeeded in establishing a relatively systematic framework of democratic institutions that is geared towards China’s current stage of development as well as its future developmental needs. As long as we maintain an unswerving commitment to exploring the path of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics, we are certain that China will have a bright and promising future.

（作者：中国社科院政治学研究所所长）

(Author: Director of the Institute of Political Science, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)