The developed capitalist state system in the west is a mansion built on the western bourgeois ideas of freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law, and it is a complete set of constitutional systems such as capitalist government system, parliamentary system, judicial system, political party system, election system and civil service system. This system is conducive to the long-term stability of the bourgeoisie. It is a set of ruling methods and methods developed on the basis of the long-term ruling experience of the bourgeois group, and it is a subtle design of the western bourgeoisie.
First, western democratic systems have different forms and there is no unified model.
When it comes to western democratic system, many people often think of "separation of powers", "parliamentary system" and "multi-party system", and mistakenly think that there is only one model of western political system, which is actually a misunderstanding. It should be said that "separation of powers", "representative system" and "multi-party system" are the main characteristics of western democratic system, but their specific manifestations are different in different countries. In fact, the western political system is complex and diverse, and no two countries have the same system.
Democracy is first and foremost a national form. Judging from the national system, the western democratic system is essentially a bourgeois dictatorship. From the perspective of regime, that is, the form of political organization, western democratic systems can be divided into many different types according to different standards. In developed capitalist countries, there are mainly the following types: constitutional monarchy, such as Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and so on; Presidential system, such as the United States; Semi-presidential system, such as France; Germany and Italy belong to the parliamentary system. Although there is a president, the functions and powers of the virtual president cannot be compared with those of the American president or the French president. Switzerland is a committee system, and the Federation has a seven-member committee, with peers exercising central power.
Regime mainly refers to the organizational form of the central government, which is generally different from the way the head of state is produced or the relationship between legislative power and executive power. Political power is the main part of a country's political power, but it is by no means the whole. A country's political system also includes rich concrete contents. Western countries all claim to implement "separation of powers", but Britain is negotiating and reconciling. The United States is tied for the three powers, and France is led by the executive. Western countries all claim to implement the "multi-party system", but some are dominated by one party and some are multi-parties. Although both Britain and the United States have a two-party system, the situation is quite different. Britain is known as the "strong political party system". The British cabinet is composed of the parliamentary majority party, and the national policy is decided by the majority party. American political parties are lax in discipline and organization, which is called "weak party system". Although there are parliaments in western countries, their methods of formation, functions and powers, procedures and internal organization have their own characteristics and are quite different. Others, such as the electoral system, the judicial system, the civil service system, the military system, the relationship between the central and local governments, and the local autonomy system, vary from country to country.
Plato has a famous saying: countries have as many shapes as souls. It is impossible to find two identical national systems in the world, because each country's political system grows and develops according to its own specific social, economic, political and cultural development, and so does the western system. Every country establishes its own political system according to its own special historical, cultural, socio-economic and political characteristics, and no country copies other countries' systems.
Second, the essence of democracy in western countries is "money democracy" of "capital elite"
In western countries, nominally people enjoy a wide range of equal and democratic rights, but in fact, due to the private possession of the means of production, this superficial equality is often replaced by substantive inequality, and legal equality is often replaced by de facto inequality. In capitalist society, only capital owners enjoy democracy, and the poor stand outside democracy. Capitalist democracy is actually a paradise for the rich and a hell for the poor.
Elections are advertised by western politicians as the most basic rights of citizens, but they are often influenced and manipulated by money, media, black forces and consortia. , thus becoming a "game of the rich", "democracy with money bags" and a process in which capital plays with public opinion. According to the data analysis of the Associated Press on the relationship between American money and election results on June 9, 2000, 865,438+0% senators and 96% representatives who won the election on June 9, 2008 spent more money than their competitors. The American presidential election is a money game. Without the financial strength of the chaebol as the backing, it is more difficult to ascend to the throne of the United States than to ascend to heaven. Money can manipulate democratic elections in the United States, so some experts pointed out: "As long as you check the fundraising account at the Federal Election Commission, you can know the final result of the election before the election." Thomas Day and Harmon Ziegler, American political science professors, described the democratic situation of the rich Americans as "elite democracy" in their book The Mock of Democracy, that is, "it is the elite, not the people, who govern the United States". Western democracy under the rule of the bourgeois elite fundamentally deviates from the basic principle of majority rule and is a wonderful mockery of democracy.
Third, the theoretical basis of western democratic system is humanism and historical idealism.
The modern western democratic system was established and developed after the victory of the bourgeois revolution. On the one hand, it inherited and developed the democratic principles and traditions of ancient Greece and Rome, on the other hand, it was established under the guidance of bourgeois enlightenment thought. The theoretical basis of the establishment of western democratic system is mainly the thought of "natural human rights" and the principle of "separation of powers".
The theory of "natural human rights" was first put forward by Hobbes, a British enlightenment thinker, and Rousseau, a French enlightenment thinker. This theory is based on the theory of "natural law" and opposes the feudal theory of "divine right of monarch" They believe that in the natural state, everyone is governed by the laws of nature, and everyone enjoys the right to life, freedom, property and the pursuit of happiness. In order to protect individual rights, people establish a country by concluding a social contract. Later principles such as "sovereignty belongs to the people" and "everyone is equal before the law" all evolved from "natural human rights". "Natural human rights" embodies the bourgeois democratic thought most intensively, and the bourgeoisie also regards it as the legislative principle and the theoretical basis for formulating various state systems.
In the modern sense, the "separation of powers" was first put forward by Locke in Britain, but Locke's place only has the separation of powers, and it is mainly the separation of classes. The complete "separation of powers" was put forward by Montesquieu of France. Montesquieu clearly put forward the idea of separation of legislative power, executive power and judicial power. In the early days of the founding of the United States, federalists further put forward the principle of "checks and balances." Enlightenment thinkers put forward the principle of "separation of powers" mainly based on the assumption that human nature is evil and power is evil. They believe that only by separating powers and controlling power with power can abuse of power be prevented. Bourgeois scholars often regard whether to implement the "separation of powers" as one of the signs of whether a system is democratic and whether a power is effective. But in fact, some countries, such as Britain, are not strictly "separation of powers". Instead, it is negotiated settlement. Even the United States, a country that flaunts strict separation of powers, has changed, with the expansion of administrative power, the decline of legislative power and the politicization of judicial power. Britain is considered as a "prime minister democracy" and the president of the United States is called an "emperor-like president".
It is undeniable that "natural human rights" and "separation of powers" have played an active role in opposing feudal rule, reconciling class contradictions and safeguarding bourgeois interests, but they are based on humanitarianism and historical idealism, so they are unscientific.
Fourth, the western democratic system has experienced a long-term development process.
At present, the democratic system in western countries has made great progress in legalization, proceduralization and standardization. Some western countries have successively abolished the restrictions on the property, education level, residence period, gender and race of the right to vote, improved the electoral system and human rights protection, strengthened the mechanism of power supervision and checks and balances, and expanded the scope of citizens' participation in politics. The ruling system of capitalist countries is becoming more and more perfect, the ruling technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, and the ruling means are becoming more and more abundant. On the one hand, this is the need of the ruling class to reconcile social contradictions and consolidate its own rule, on the other hand, it is also the result of the continuous struggle between the proletariat and the working people.
After hundreds of years of development and improvement, the system in western countries has reached such a level today. Many countries have many problems, even serious problems, at the beginning of their establishment, but they are not perfect today. The United States is a country with relatively complete and distinctive democratic system in the capitalist world, which is often talked about by bourgeois scholars, but the serious defect in protecting human rights is still a social problem in the United States. The Federal Constitution does not include provisions to protect citizens' rights. It was not until 179 1 that the constitutional amendment of 10 was adopted to protect citizens' rights. Racial discrimination and gender discrimination in the United States are even more deeply rooted. For a long time after People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded, slavery still existed in the United States. During the Civil War, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Although slavery was abolished in law, blacks still could not enjoy equal treatment. After the promulgation of constitutional amendment 1870 15, blacks' voting rights are still deprived or restricted, and racial segregation is becoming more and more serious. 1875, the federal parliament passed a bill prohibiting racial segregation in public transportation departments such as railways and shipping and other public places, but it was quickly ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and lost its effectiveness. In the 1950s, the United States finally ushered in a magnificent civil rights movement, which swept across the country until a serious bloody conflict occurred. Although there is no clear legal or institutional discrimination against people of color, blacks and other people of color often do not get the respect and rights they deserve in American society.
Take the electoral system as an example. As the basis of representative system, universal suffrage was first put forward by Britain. The British Magna Carta movement proposed to achieve constituency equality, abolish property qualification restrictions and allow men to vote. But even these incomplete regulations took a long time to be gradually realized in Britain. 1832 after the passage of the bill on improving the representation system in England and Wales, only 7% of residents over 20 have the right to vote. 1867, the electoral reform lowered the restrictions on property qualifications, and the proportion of men eligible to vote increased to 16%. 1884 lowered the property qualification again, and the number of people with voting rights increased to 28%. 19 18 stipulates that women over the age of 30 should have the right to vote, and this proportion has increased to 78%. It was not until 1970 that male and female citizens over 18 enjoyed the right to vote equally. It took Britain a century and a half to popularize the right to vote alone. France is the country with the most thorough bourgeois revolution, but it was not until 1974 that the constitutional amendment was passed, stipulating that men and women over the age of 18 enjoyed equal voting rights, while the United States did not reach this standard until 197 1 year.
The New Development of Western Democracy after World War II and Its Internal Contradictions.
After World War II, especially since 1970s. Western democratic system is characterized by perfect democracy, democratic "deficit", democratic crisis and democratic "superstition" simultaneously. Western democracy is regarded as "universal value" by some people, while all other different forms of political systems or opponents of western democracy are regarded as undemocratic or even dictatorial. Some people in developing countries and socialist countries also have illusions about western democracy. How should we treat this phenomenon?
First of all, the above phenomenon is the result of active adjustment by capitalist countries. In the 20th century, western countries were strongly impacted by fascism and left-wing movements, which aggravated the crisis in the capitalist world. The revolution in some countries and the establishment of socialist countries have made capitalist countries feel that the end is coming. Therefore, easing social contradictions, adjusting the relationship between various classes, strata and interest groups in capitalist society, and perfecting the democratic political system within the framework of capitalism have become the inevitable moves of post-war western developed countries.
Secondly, the self-adjustment of capitalist countries is based on the private ownership of the means of production, which has not fundamentally overcome the basic contradictions and class opposition of capitalism, nor can it change the class nature of capitalist democracy.
Third, we should recognize the essence of "new interventionism" in the West. In order to maintain the capitalist world system, the dominant position of western developed countries and the old international order, western countries not only export capital and products, but also export western democratic ideas and so-called democratic systems to developing countries, which is essentially a means of "new interventionism".
Sixth, critically learn from the beneficial elements of western democracy.
Undeniably, after hundreds of years of development, western countries have formed a relatively complete system and a relatively perfect operating mechanism in democratic participation, democratic supervision, power checks and balances, separation of political parties and political power, and realized the legalization of bourgeois democracy. If the essence of serving capitalism is excluded, then some concrete forms of this democracy can still be regarded as the cultural achievements of human beings, which can be transformed and absorbed according to the specific national conditions of China.
In particular, to build Socialism with Chinese characteristics's democratic politics, we must proceed from China's national conditions and, under the leadership of China Producers' Party, adhere to the organic unity of Party leadership, people being masters of the country and governing the country according to law, adhere to and improve the people's congress system, and never engage in the western "parliamentary system"; Adhere to and improve the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of China's * * * production party, and never engage in the western "multi-party system"; Adhere to democratic centralism and never engage in the western "separation of powers" system. The development of western democratic system shows that the political system of any country is the most suitable and effective only if it suits its own national conditions and is constantly improved and developed. The political system of any country is effective and useful in that country, but it may not be effective and useful in another country, and sometimes it may be counterproductive. None of the western developed countries copied the political systems of other countries. Before independence, the United States was a British colony. When the United States was founded, only Britain was a democracy in the modern sense, but the United States did not copy the British system. Japan has carried out democratic reforms under the leadership of the United States, but Japan has not copied the American system. The experience of developing countries also illustrates this truth. The 20th century is a century of surging wars and revolutions, and also a century of drastic changes in the political system. Every country in the post-revolutionary era and every country with independent nationalities has chosen and established its own political system, including some successes and some failures. But there is a common experience, that is, no country succeeds by copying other countries' political systems. Some western powers with ulterior motives export "democracy" everywhere, and none of them are successful.