How Did France Say Farewell to Revolution ? Pierre Rosanvallon ' s interpretation of the history of democracy in France

在西方的政治传统里,宪政民主或精英民主向来被认为是驯服民主的良方和维护自由的屏障,但根据皮埃尔·罗桑瓦龙对法国民主病理学的诊断,它只不过是一种幻想。让法国告别革命的关键因素既不是政治理性主义,也不是普选制,而是19世纪90年代以来自治能力不断得到增强的市民社会。同样,人民主权原则在市民社会的纵深发展,也是当代民主国家保障公民权利和推进自由的主要手段。罗桑瓦龙对近代法国民主史的解读,为我们理解市场社会的缺陷、盎格鲁-撒克逊民主的局限以及民主本身的内在张力提供了一个新的视角。

Constitutional democracy or elite democracy is always regarded as a panacea of taming democracy and a safeguard of liberty in western political tradition .But according to Pierre Rosanvallon' s analysis of the pathology of French democracy , it is just an illusion . In fact, what succeeded in keeping France away from revolution is not political rationalism or universal suffrage .The more decisive factor is that civil society' s capacity of autonomy and self-government has been growing since 1890s.Moreover , the further development of popular sovereignty in civil society is the most important way of protecting civil rights and promoting liberty for contemporary democratic countries .Rosanvallon' s reading and interpretation of the history of French democracy offers for us an original perspective to understand the limits of market society , the inadequacies of Anglo-Saxon democracy and the antinomies of democracy itself.

乐启良

浙江大学“董氏文史哲研究奖励基金”的资助项目(205202-U20801)

欢迎阅读《社会学研究》！您是该文第2251位读者！