中国传统民本思想及其现实意义

民本思想是中国古代治国的基本指导思想，在民和天、民和国、民和君的关系问题上，明确提出的“民为神主”、“民为邦本”、“民贵君轻”等朴素唯物主义观点，对于我党坚持群众路线，加强自身建设，加快社会主义民主政治建设具有重要的现实意义。     

社会主义新农村建设目标及实现

“生产发展、生活宽裕、乡风文明、村容整洁、管理民主”是社会主义新农村建设的主要目标,它是物质文明、精神文明和政治文明的具体体现。这些目标的实现,有赖于党的坚强领导,农民生活条件的改善和自身素质的提高。     

The politics of water democracy: insights from grassroot struggles in the Ecuadorian Highlands

In the past two decades spaces for user participation have been opened within water governance structures at many scales. In this contribution, based on a case study of the Provincial Water Users Federation Interjuntas‐Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Highlands, I explore how and why formal participation of water users in itself is problematic in terms of democracy. The case shows that for organised peasant water users to work on more democratic water governance, the creation of upscaled federations, alliances, networks and sometimes street protests is crucial to open up spaces in which their interests are represented. This suggests that democracy is not merely about participation, but more importantly, it is about the politics of how democracy is made through conflicts, protests, negotiations and the creation of strategic alliances that challenge the structures and processes through which decisions are taken.     

I,River?: New materialism,riparian non‐human agency and the scale of democratic reform

This article is a discussion of the “discourse on the unthinkable” surrounding potential future democratic engagements with rivers as non‐human persons or natural objects. In the context of the Asia–Pacific region, this article suggests that the developments in material philosophy entitled “new materialism” are essential tools in the reconceptualisation of rivers as democratic entities but that local socio‐historical conditions must also be taken into the account. In order to make its case, the article not only surveys the context for considering rivers as non‐human persons in a juridical context but also discusses the new material context that assists modern democracies in the renegotiation of the demos that forms the body politic of democracy – often in the face of neoliberal exploitation and a legacy of extremes in instrumentalism. The article argues that the incorporation of water in the democratic project of enfranchisement is an essential exercise born of many Western beliefs and ideals but articulated uniquely at a regional and national level.     

Consensus versus dissent: Democracy,pluralism and governance in Sāmoa

Abstract: Consensus is a term widely used in Sāmoa and elsewhere in the Pacific. It is considered to be a key feature of decision‐making and a fundamental characteristic of fa’asāmoa and other Pacific ways of being and doing. In Sāmoa it has been a mark of the strength and continuity of the fa’a matai through the ages of colonialism, neo‐colonialism and globalisation. However, although it has evolved in many ways to take into account new social trends (for instance allowing children to take part in family discussions) and remains strong at the family and village level, its role at the national level has virtually disappeared. This is seldom stated publicly and consensus is still held up as a defining characteristic of Sāmoaness. At the same time, although the rise of dissent is given little acknowledgement, it permeates public life. One could assume, based on this result that the ideology of consensus is perpetuated in order to reduce national public debate on governance issues.     

Monarch,monarchy, succession and stability in Thailand

Abstract: Many in Thailand have begun to worry about the future, when a new monarch will reign. There is fear that without the wise use of informal royal influence, Thailand may not be able to resolve future crises without major conflict. There have thus been attempts to re‐engineer the political system to increase stability, at the expense of democracy and participation. Yet, of the many achievements of King Bhumibol, perhaps the most overlooked has been his strengthening of the institutions of the monarchy. In this article, I will argue that the institutions of the monarchy have been greatly strengthened in the last four decades. Although the current monarch came to the throne with little institutional support, any future monarch will come to the throne with the assistance of large numbers of personnel, a stable budget and a council of powerful and experienced advisors. The informal role of the monarch in supporting democracy has also been shared, to some degree, with a larger and more influential privy council, and especially with its president. Consequently, future monarchical succession should see considerable continuity and stability. Such preparations make the sacrifice of democracy in pursuit of stability unnecessary and unfortunate.     

Reinventing rural development in Vietnam: Discursive constructions of grassroots democracy during the renovation reform

Over the past decades Vietnam has seen striking efforts to reinvent the exercise of democratic rural development. Promotion of grassroots democracy, notably under the Grassroots Democracy Decree (GDD), has been an acute response by Communist Party and government to large scale unrest among the rural populace owing to dissatisfactions with a felt mismatch between espoused commitments to ‘good governance’ and its actual practice. Through evidence from field work, this paper assesses the implications of the GDD in the central and northern highlands, analyzing how the promotion of grassroots democracy is discursively constructed by rural development professionals. The results outline three dominant discourses, which center on their respective interests in liberalist democratization, improved efficiency in state renovation, and enhanced accountability in governing local policy ambiguities. It argues that ‘grassroots democracy’ is serving as a conceptual mediator, supporting learning between diverging interests associated with rural development and different ideological positions shrouding the notion of democracy itself. Yet, given the extent that discourses are reflective of how professionals relate to grassroots aspirations, grassroots movements, which originally ushered the Party and central government to pass the GDD, have a significant struggle ahead of them to affect concrete changes in professionals' practices.     

The Evolution of Watershed Councils and the Oregon Plan

Summary

Revisiting the history of Oregon politics, especially environmental policy, shows that populist tradition and innovative government are tied together. Political innovation through massive reform led to the Oregon System, a governmental approach that allows a good deal of direct, or participatory, democracy. The degree of direct democracy in Oregon, or at least the threat of voters bypassing the legislature, led to a series of environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Along with similar federal laws, these set a regulatory baseline from which to build a watershed protection strategy. Key to this Watershed Health Program is the role of community-based watershed councils, which provide a good example of local, inclusive, participatory democracy. Utilizing watershed councils as the key component of a state watershed restoration strategy within the context of a regulatory baseline is an example of a hybrid centralized/decentralized approach to environmental policy. This hybrid approach is a political innovation that serves as an incremental response to competing environmental and anti-government populism. This approach will be severely tested by the 1997 Oregon Plan for Salmon and Healthy Watersheds, a state conservation plan designed to head off a listing of salmonid species under the Endangered Species Act. If this approach is successful, community-based ecosystem management groups and states that wish to copy Oregon's example will have new ideas to foster maintenance and restoration of ecosystems through state-administered conservation plans.     

论古代民本思想对中国特色民主建设的价值

民本思想是中国优秀传统文化的重要思想之一,对我国民主主义思想产生巨大影响, 是一笔宝贵的历史遗产和精神财富。但随着经济、政治与社会的不断进步,民本思想受社会历 史条件的制约,必然存在一定的局限性,面对当前中国特色社会主义进入新时代的这个新局面, 民本思想为中国特色民主建设提供了一定的思想基础与理论渊源。中国共产党人重新对民本 思想进行阐释和定义以推动中国古老民本思想实现现代化转型的过程中,对中国特色民主建设 的发展进程具有极其重要的理论与现实意义。     

中国社会主义民主政治建设的历程及启示

胡锦涛总书记在党的十七大报告中提出中国特色社会主义民主政治理论。至此,中国社会主义民主政治建设上了一个新台阶。根据中国特色社会主义民主政治建设在不同时期取得的成就将其进程大致分为五个阶段,通过对中国社会主义民主政治建设的发展历程的分析,总结中国社会主义民主政治建设的主要经验,从而以史为鉴,开创未来。