Deliberative Democracy and Liberal Rights

Many liberals cannot help distrusting deliberative democracy theory. In their view, the theory offers no sufficient guarantee that the outcomes of democratic deliberation will be respectful of individual interests generating what they conceive as basic moral rights. The purpose of this text is to provide one argument showing that liberal rights are sufficiently protected within deliberative democracy theory. The argument does not rest on the idea of moral rights or material justice. It rests on the conditions of legitimate law deliberative democracy theory presupposes, namely, the conditions that make concrete the idea of legitimacy as "actual public justification."     

Deliberative Democracy and Constitutional Review

Law and Philosophy -     

Reflections on Habermas on Democracy

Jürgen Habermas is a radical democrat. The source of that self-designation is that his conception of democracy—what he calls “discursive democracy”—is founded on the ideal of “a self-organizing community of free and equal citizens,” coordinating their collective affairs through their common reason. The author discusses three large challenges to this radical-democratic ideal of collective self-regulation: 1) What is the role of private autonomy in a radical-democratic view? 2) What role does reason play in collective self-regulation? 3) What relevance might a radical-democratic outlook have for contemporary democracies? The author addresses these questions by considering Habermas' answers, and then presenting alternative responses to them. The alternatives are also radical-democratic in inspiration, but they draw on a richer set of normative-political ideas than Habermas wants to rely on, and are more ambitious in their hopes for democratic practice.     

哈贝马斯交往行动理论视域下的商议式司法

哈贝马斯的交往行动理论意蕴深邃,它将法律看作动态、开放、互动的行动系统。交往行动的学理资源是语用学;存在方式是商谈;生长土壤是理想话语情境。交往行动理论视域下的商议式司法提倡各方当事人以及其他社会民众在有关具体案件的事实认定和法律适用方面采取真诚互动、沟通协商的方式,从而达成理解与共识。商议式司法具有对话性、程序性、伦理性,其价值在于增强裁判结果的可接受性;克服机械司法的缺陷;促进司法民主;遏制司法腐败。     

服务型政府管理中的协商民主研究

在服务型政府管理过程中发展协商民主具有必要性和可能性。要充分发挥协商民主对服务型政府建设的作用,就要在把握协商民主特点的基础上,不断克服实践过程中可能出现的问题。     

Habermas on Democracy and Justice. Limits of a Sound Conception

Abstract . The author outlines limitations of the explanation capacity of Habermas's Discourse Philosophy, because of its problematic presuppositions. The main topics discussed are: (i) the legitimacy of legal systems; (ii) Habermas's concept of democracy; (iii) his theory of justice. Legitimacy cannot be based only on discourse processes, but it has to be defined by international law. Discourses in society are essential for democratic systems, but the discourses by themselves do not guarantee the optimal result as discourses may be disturbed by deceptive propaganda, by prejudices or by wrong political slogans. It is not convincing that discourse procedures guarantee impartiality and justice nor that in discourses better arguments always prevail.     

论协商民主在行政决策机制中的引入

我国现行“公众参与、专家论证、政府决定”的行政决策机制由于“公众参与”之规定停留于一般要求,造成公众在机制中的“结构——过程”两阶段中角色断裂,进而使机制所追求的民主正当性目标落空。而强调公众参与的广泛与平等、重视理性与真诚协商、注重偏好转向的协商民主有助于修复行政决策中公众参与可能遗漏的民主性,美国行政决策中的协商民主在实践层面上验证了此种功能取向。由是,在我国行政决策机制中引入协商民主可成为一种增强决策过程民主性的选择性方案,更为重要的是,我国政治协商制度为此种引入提供了政治与制度基础。而协商民主要在行政决策中获得稳定性并持续发展,必需借助法律媒介使其制度化。     

The Idea of Deliberative Democracy. A Critical Appraisal

The deliberative conception of politics seems to be necessary for the legitimation of state power through democratic will-formation and decision-making. However, the author maintains that a complex theory of democracy cannot merely consist in procedural prerequisites for organizing the concomitant institutional settings. In particular, such a theory must comprise some substantive presuppositions, such as social and economic rights, in order to diminish existing material inequalities, especially those connected with social exploitation and domination. The author argues that a contemporary theory of democracy should reflect on the autonomization of mechanisms of egoistic action challenging not only the democratic political order, but also the very reproduction preconditions of societies all over the world. In this perspective, the model of associative democracy, which is suggested nowadays as a sort of substantive correlative to the institutional proceduralism, could not significantly rejuvenate the traditional representative democracy. Instead, democracy could only be given a fresh impulse if democratic deliberation penetrates the currently forbidden field of capitalist production and social exploitation, the locus where social inequality and effective unfreedom are endlessly reproduced.     

Democratic Deficits of a Dualist Deliberative Constitutionalism: Bruce Ackerman and Jürgen Habermas

Abstract.  This paper analyzes the deliberative constitutional models of Bruce Ackerman and Jürgen Habermas. It argues that Ackerman's version of democratic dualism sets strict normative distinctions between constitutional and ordinary political deliberations. As a result, it ignores everyday political processes and citizens' ordinary public deliberations and is unresponsive to ongoing social changes in a liberal pluralist society. On the other hand, Habermas's discursive constitution defends a dynamic relationship between constitutional and ordinary politics. It provides a better model of a continuous constitutional development that is more open to new social and historical circumstances.     

从理论到实践:协商民主理论与公共新闻学

协商民主与公共新闻学是在西方政治学与新闻学领域兴起的对西方社会民主缺失的反思,二者皆强调公民作为主体参与政治的民主实质。大众传媒应促进公民参与公共生活,并对事关公共利益的问题作有意义的议题设置,引导公众思考和作出决策,提供公共论坛,呈现各种不同观点,积极地推动公共讨论和论辩,以推进民主发展。     

A Marx for the Managerial Revolution: Habermas on Law and Democracy

The early work of Jïrgen Habermas stressed the corrosive effects of the state and the market on the socio-cultural life-world. There could be no administrative creation of meaning. His more recent work argues that the system can redeem itself without sacrificing the emancipatory interests of humanity. However, this shift does not represent an abandonment of the revolutionary project of critical theory. On the contrary, the communicative model of proceduralist law-making is designed to promote the revolutionary transformation of Western civilization under the auspices of managerial and administrative elites. The radical ideal of cosmopolitan democracy becomes an essential ingredient in the effective management of a complex socio-economic system operating on a global scale. The demos in Habermas's vision of radical democracy is not the people of any particular nation but humanity at large. As a consequence, the proceduralist model of law-making provides the philosophical justification for a bizarre social experiment which aims to dissociate Western nation-states from their core ethno-cultural identities.     

The Rule of Reasons. Three Models of Deliberative Democracy

In this paper, the author contrasts three models of deliberative democracy: a liberal one, a communitarian one, and an alternative to both. Rather than understanding deliberative democracy as the rule of principles of justice or of communal values, the third model conceives of it as the "rule of reasons." On the basis of a discussion of seven components of an "ethos of democracy" (the cognitive capacities of citizens, political virtues, the cultural, institutional and material conditions of democracy, political legitimacy, and the "ground" of democracy), the third view, which is based on a theory of moral and political justification, emerges as superior.     

协商民主视域下的社会管理创新问题思考

提 要：从协商民主视域创新社会管理是加强社会建设的基本要求与发展趋势.因此,充分认识协商民主视域下社会管理创新的时代价值,对协商民主视域下社会管理创新的现实问题作出分析,进一步明确协商民主对社会管理创新提出的新要求,努力探讨协商民主视域下社会管理创新的理论突破与实践选择,具有非常重要的现实意义.     

协商民主的理论及其实践：对人权保障的贡献——以协商民主的权力制约功能为分析视角

作为当代西方民主理论和实践的最新发展，协商民主强调公民通过自由而平等的理性对话、辩论、推理和审议等方式来参与公共生活，赋予立法和决策以合法性，从而保证公民自治和真实民主的实现，推动民主政治的发展。协商民主的价值理念契合了当代宪政国家人权保障的核心追求，其宪政功能突出表现在通过制约和监督国家权力以整合多元社会共识，赋予立法和决策以正当合法性，凸显宪政国家人权保障的终极目标。当前各国的乡村社会和地方城市产生了许多新的协商制度形式，为人权保障事业作出了独特贡献。     

寻求不一致的一致——试论软法与协商民主机制的结构性耦合

卢曼认为,法律是一个使用合法/不合法的独特符号作为沟通手段的独立的规则系统,是人类行为的规范性预期的制度化。法律规范作为独立系统欲保持稳定与再生则必须在封闭运行的同时与外部环境之间保持认知的开放,其对外部环境刺激的稳定回应模式即为结构性耦合。从此视角观察,软法是一个相对而言制度化程度较低的,其稳定预期的功能相对弱化了的规则系统,它允许中间程度的效力,其创生本身具有回应性目的。软法建构的环境在国际关系和国内民主政治领域的表现形式就是协商民主。协商民主政治机制本身的出现就具有回应民主程度问题的性质,其成功的几个关键机制需要弹性的规范体系。软法能够模式化地回应协商民主的需要而与之形成结构性耦合。     

Judicial Review and Deliberative Democracy: A Circular Model of Law Creation and Legitimation

In this paper the author discusses the legitimation of judicial review of legislation. He argues that such a legitimation is not just a moral matter but is to be considered more generally in terms of societal acceptability, since it is based on a wide range of reasons including moral, social and pragmatic concerns. Moreover, the paper stresses that the legitimation of judicial decisions should be properly viewed in a circular perspective, so that the relationship between legislators and judges cannot be reduced to an absolute supremacy of those who are democratically elected over those who apply the law. On the contrary, the law is constantly made, adapted and developed in legal practice and legal decisions are basically legitimated through several processes of deliberative communication.     

法律实证主义与审议式民主——从哈特到哈贝马斯的法律现代性省思

本文通过对哈特<法律的概念>一书所隐含的、由拉兹最先发掘和发展出来的,通过"权威"和法律渊源论证法律实证主义基本立场的理论进路进行梳理和评价,指出了法律实证主义理论背后隐藏着法律的现代性问题,而哈特和拉兹等人在处理法律的权威性问题时,由于受"承认规则"理论的束缚和干扰,使得他们对法律的权威性认识出现了一定的偏差,将用来打破法律体系刚性结构的司法权当作了说明法律权威刚性结构的典型情境.其后通过回归法律现代性问题的实质内涵和形式内涵,强调从哲学上解决法律现代性内容内涵方面的规范性困境对于坚持法律现代性之形式内涵的重要性.最后,通过引入哈贝马斯处理法律现代性问题的方案,强调一种规范性的法律实证主义进路的可能性,以及此种规范性的法律实证主义与审议式民主之间的关系.同时也介绍和评价了哈贝马斯的法律现代性方案对于今后法哲学发展的启发.