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The Representative system is defined by
congress
A political system and form of political organization that is the center of national political activity and in which a small number of representatives make major legislative and executive decisions through discussion or debate. Also known as
Parliamentary system
. According to the different ways of representation, the representative system of government is divided into
Parliamentary monarchy
and
Parliamentary democracy
Two kinds. The head of state in a parliamentary monarchy is a hereditary king, while the head of state in a parliamentary democracy is an elected president. The Parliament actually has more power than the monarch or president, who is only the nominal head of state. Representative system begins
Britain
It was later adopted by many countries. In modern politics, because of the large population, democracies need to have some form of representation. Therefore, in the course of historical development, in order to solve many problems related to representation, such as the qualification of electors, the division of electoral districts, the distribution of voters, the basis of elections, the method of proposing candidates, the method of determining the will of electors, etc., there have been various designs and regulations. In addition,
Party politics
It has become increasingly dominant in representative government, acting as a bridge between citizens and representatives, and making systematic demands on behalf of citizens, while allowing parliament to debate along party lines. This has become a characteristic of most representative governments.
[1]
- Chinese name
- Representative system
- Foreign name
- Representative system
- measurement
- Citizens' representatives form representative bodies to exercise power
- Shape formula
- Indirect democracy
- Van Wai
- It is widely practiced in modern countries
- origin
- Greece The city-state republican state
Pure representative system versus
Direct democracy
Compared with the advantages, both of them have certain limitations. The representative system of the West today is a combination of the rule of law of ancient Rome."
Liberal democracy
". Representative government is
Responsible government
. Meanwhile, at
Liberal democracy
The Legislature, which is occupied by elected representatives, does not have supreme power; the Basic Law has supreme power. Laws made by Parliament must conform to a higher basic law, i.e
constitution
Thus, individual freedom is protected against the immediate will of the "majority" or "minority." The Basic Law does not rely on
referendum
Or"
Popular will
". Post-world War II
German Basic Law
"And"
Constitution of Japan
Neither is democratically produced; Britain simply has no written constitution, the spirit of which is embodied in previous jurisprudence, with little chance of being changed by the representatives of the people.
Rather than a pure democracy,
Liberal democracy
less
democracy
, but a little more
Rule of law
To protect the individual
liberty
.
when
Liberal democracy
When mainstream status is established,
referendum
It became an embarrassing thing that "concubine body is not known". Countries that profess to be democratic do not employ this most democratic of means.
United States federal government
Never adopt
referendum
. For example, the United States plays
Vietnam War
It is not the responsibility of the American people, but the responsibility of the President and Congress of the United States, so the president and members of Congress of the United States cannot "do what the people want" or "do what the people want".
Representative of public opinion
"In the name of shirking responsibility for themselves.
The Netherlands, India, Japan, Israel and other countries have never held it
referendum
. Major European countries, such as Britain, Germany, France and Spain, basically do not use referendums. If the referendum is held, the euro advocated by Germany will be defeated by the local supporters of the Mark, and German society will be divided. Switzerland is the only country in the world that frequently holds referendums, but Switzerland's referendums are not simple "majority of the people", but are strictly constrained by its federal system.
Comparative study of representative system
In the 13th century the famous"
Grand meeting
"And the" model Council "form of representative system, the content and form of representative system successively adopted by some feudal city republics of medieval Europe, such as France."
estates-general
",
Germany
But these representative systems had more form than content, were still feudal autocracies in nature, and could not be called representative systems in the true sense, or in other words, bourgeois representative systems.
Representative system in modern sense originated in England. In 1688."
Glorious revolution
The subsequent feudal hierarchic assembly, combined with the cabinet system, was formalized, thus forming the supreme legislature above the king. This parliamentary system was replaced by other
nation
Recognized and quickly spread and copied.
If the mission of political science in the 17th and 18th centuries was mainly to elaborate the political ideas and principles of democracy on the basis of a thorough critique of despotism and its political doctrines, then from the 19th century, with the completion of the revolution, one of the main tasks of political science has been to explore what form of government the state should adopt in order to be more conducive to political administration. Obviously, the answer to this question cannot rely solely on the abstract ideas of the past, such as the social contract and the principles of innate human rights, but must create some new and more concrete political theories to guide the political practice of democratic countries. The theory of representative system came into being under this background.
Characteristics of representative systems in different countries
The emergence and development of representative system reflects
Social division of labor
The objective needs of increasing specialization and the increasing complexity of state affairs. In modern society, no matter which ruling class, as long as the implementation
Democratic politics
All generally adopt the form of representative system, but the specific way is different. The representative body of a capitalist country is the legislature of the country, which exercises legislative power independently and with the other two powers, namely the executive power and the legislative power
Judicial power
Mutual check and balance; In the establishment of representative institutions, some countries practice
bicameralism
Some have a unicameral system.
Due to the historical background, cultural tradition and economy of each country
Social development
The difference between the government of different countries, resulting in different representative organs in
State power
The status and role of the organizational system are also different.
The constitutional monarchies practiced in Britain, Japan, Denmark, Spain, Thailand and other countries;
The United States, Russia, Egypt and other countries implement the presidential republic;
France is a typical semi-presidential republic;
Switzerland
Implement the committee system;
Germany, India, Italy, Israel and other countries have parliamentary republics.
With different forms of representative system, the relationship between the head of state, parliament and government and the distribution of power are also different. But in general, there is a separation of powers and
Balance of power
. America is typical
Separation of powers
The country.
Development of the idea of representative democracy
Representative democracy
Some basic elements of thought were gradually conceived in the long course of medieval history. Its basic contents include:
Social community
It is the end of political power; Kingship derives from the transfer of the power of the people, but the people still retain the ownership and ultimate control over it; The use of public power should be based on the consent of the community, and "matters of concern to all require the consent of all" should become legislation, the establishment of government, and so on
Political decision
The basic principles of; The political powers of the Community, in particular the legislative and taxation powers, are exercised by bodies composed of representatives chosen by various classes or social groups. This paper analyzes the original connotation of the thought of representative democracy and its origin, growth and development in the Middle Ages from the aspects of political power, ownership and exercise.
Representative democracy in the Western Medieval Western classical city-state era belongs to direct democracy, that is, citizens participate in the political decision-making process of the country by being directly present. When modern democracy emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries, it took the form of indirect democracy, or representative democracy, in which citizens participate not directly in the political decision-making process, but through their representatives. The political rights of citizens are mainly embodied in the right to elect representatives. But representative democracy is not a recent creation; it is a medieval creation. In the process of the emergence and development of representative democracy in the Middle Ages, political reasoning and conceptual innovation often played a leading role, so the thought of representative democracy has a long history and complex development process in the Middle Ages. As the contemporary democratic theorist R. Dahl put it, modern democratic thought belongs to a "mixture." They have a lot to do with classical times and
Germanic
The inheritance of the direct democratic thought of the ancestors, but most of them are the innovations of the Middle Ages, which are formed by the complex process of growth, transformation, transformation, renewal and mutual integration of some different ideological factors under the specific historical conditions of the Middle Ages. At the end of the Middle Ages, it had begun to take shape and prepared abundant ideological resources for modern representative democracy.
In recent years, there have been some significant achievements in the study of representative democracy in the Middle Ages, especially in England, but the formation and evolution of the thought of representative democracy have not been systematically combed. Because the development of representative democracy in the Middle Ages was guided by the change of ideas and the innovation of theories, it was separated from
Political thought
The history of representative democracy is not well understood. Without understanding the development of representative democratic thought in the Middle Ages, the understanding of modern democratic thought is also superficial and one-sided. Western scholars who study the history of medieval political thought have sorted out and explored the medieval representative democratic thought from different angles. Among the more influential works are the six-volume "The Middle Ages in the West" by the Carlyle brothers, pioneers of the history of medieval political thought
History of political theory
The book shows the development and evolution of the practice and concept of representative democracy in the Middle Ages with rich and detailed historical materials, and is one of the earliest achievements in the field. The book is rich in data but lacks in-depth theoretical analysis.
Ullmann, another expert on the history of medieval political thought, gave an in-depth explanation of medieval democratic thought in his Medieval Political Thought, but because he did not give much attention to representative democratic thought, the relevant explanation was incomplete. The recent Western scholars in the elaboration of medieval thought, generally involved the late medieval representative democracy system in the incubation of democratic thought. One of the more recent and important works in this area is Arthur Monaghan's Consent, Coercion, and Limits: The Medieval Origins of Parliamentary Democracy.
This book is characterized by the public legalization of some private law principles in the revival of Roman law, which is the basic clue to investigate the democratic thought of the Middle Ages. This kind of textual research goes deep into some details of ideological development, which has strong historical and logical persuasiveness, but the scope of the study is relatively narrow, and the theoretical vision is not broad enough. This paper attempts to examine the origin of the thought of representative democracy in the Middle Ages from a macro perspective in relation to and contrast with the thought of direct democracy in the classical era and the thought of representative democracy in modern times, analyze the political power, ownership and exercise mode, and specifically elaborate the historical process of the origin, growth and integration of various elements of the thought of representative democracy in the Middle Ages.
I. The legal basis of democracy:
It is the premise of the thought of representative democracy that the political power originates from and belongs to the social community. In this, it shares common ground with direct democracy. In the European Middle Ages, the main source of this idea was
The Germans
The traditions of tribal democracy converged at the same time
Greek city-states
Democratic tradition and Rome
republicanism
Tradition. Ullman once pointed out that there were two main theoretical traditions about government power in the Middle Ages: one is the "lower source theory", which means that the flow of government power is from the bottom up, also known as the "popular theory". This theory traces the power of government to the people or the community, and the government is only entrusted by the people or the community to exercise power. This is the Germanic tradition recorded by Tacitus. The second is the "upper source theory", which means that the flow of government power is top-down, also known as the "divine theory". This theory ascribes the power of government to the Supreme Being of the world or to God, and there is no power other than God. The power structure is like a pyramid, with power flowing from top to bottom and God at the top. Government only exercises power on behalf of God. This theory is rooted in Christianity and belongs entirely to the "Latin-Roman" temperament.
Ullman argues that the history of medieval political theory is largely a history of the conflict between these two theories of government. In the early Middle Ages, due to the influence of the absolute dominance of Christianity, the Germanic people adopted the Christian "divine theory", and the "popular theory" was pushed into the underground until the end of the 13th century to emerge and recover its theoretical status. Since then, the "God-given theory" has more and more receded into the background, and the "people-given theory" has become the mainstream. The Germanic "delegation theory" affirms social community as the ultimate of political power in two ways.
First, the Germanic people used the tribal Council or popular Assembly as the highest authority of the tribe. Before the conquest of Western Europe, the Germanic people discussed and decided major tribal affairs through tribal councils attended by all tribal members, and elected their military leaders or Kings. In the Germanic conception, the king derived his power from the tribal assembly, and he had no other power. When the Germanic people entered Western Europe, the tribal council gradually became a formality and then completely disappeared, but the principle it embodied did not completely disappear. For a long time, the Germanic country replaced the equal participation of the whole people with the political participation of domestic dignitaries such as nobles and prelates, whose consent was required for important decisions of the country. But the participation of these dignitaries was interpreted as an expression of the supreme authority of the community over state affairs. The king could not issue or change laws or make other important decisions without their consent. The king, in spite of his eminent position, was, according to the general Germanic conception, "greater than the individual" but "less than the whole." Secondly, the Germans believed that the supreme authority of the community was the law, and that the authority of the law was derived from the customs of the community. The Germanic tradition highly respects the status of law, and regards law as the supreme authority of the community
Political authority
The main embodiment of. But according to the unique Germanic conception, law derives from the customs of the community, and is a record of the customs of the community which have existed since ancient times. As J. Sabine said, "The Germanic peoples regard the law as belonging to the people, or the people, or the tribe, almost as an attribute or a common asset of the group, by which the group is held together." Thus, in the early Middle Ages, the Germanic rulers issued statutes not as legislative acts, but as records of ancient community customs and published them in the name of the community. So laws are "discovered" rather than made.
As the custom is
Member of society
The stable ideas, norms, manners and ways of life naturally formed in the long-term common life and communication have been acquiesced or recognized by the members of the community, so the law derived from the custom is regarded as having been agreed by the members of the society and supported by the authority of the community. Gratian, the first systematic scholar of Canon law, pointed out that mankind is governed by two great sets of laws, natural law and customary law. Here he equates the positive law of the state entirely with the customary law. After the 9th century, the concept of clear and conscious legislation began to emerge, and the law began to be seen as an expression of the will of the legislator, which was further encouraged by the revival of Roman law in the 12th century. But who is the legislator on this occasion? The answer is the community. In jurisprudence, the consent of the social community is an important factor in the effectiveness of the law. This consent takes two forms, one is the custom of the Community and the other is the express consent of the members of the Community. This confirmation of Community consent is usually embodied in State documents or decrees. A royal decree of 864 AD affirmed this principle in general terms in a famous phrase: "Since laws are made with the consent of the people and by the proclamation of the king." The jurist Gratian established the principle that even where the law is made by some person or persons, it must be recognized by the habits of the people living under that law. Carlisle commented, "Gratian is not merely expressing his personal opinion, but expressing in standard language the general judgment of the Middle Ages." Until the end of the Middle Ages, the prevailing idea remained that law was first and foremost a habit, and that when it was enacted, it was understood to derive from the authority of the community. Custom comes from the "silent consent" of the people, and law comes from the explicit consent of the people.
15th century thinker
Nikolai of Kusa
Wise men should be elected to draft laws, but their wisdom does not give them the power to impose laws on others. Such coercive power can only derive from the consent and endorsement of the Community. After the 12th and 13th centuries, under the influence of the revival of Roman law and the "Aristotelian Revolution,"
The Germans
The idea that the power of the state originates from the social community was merged with the republican tradition of Rome and the democratic tradition of the Greek city-state, which formed a powerful ideological trend and was deepened. The revival of Roman law brought about a heated debate in medieval European thought. Roman law contained jurists
Urbian
"The emperor's decisions have the force of law, because the people have transferred all their power to him by royal law." On the one hand, this phrase adheres to the Roman republican tradition, confirming that the emperor's power comes from the transfer of the people; On the other hand, it also confirmed the reality of the imperial era and provided the legal basis for the emperor to monopolize the legislative power of the country. The double tradition that Ulbian's words carry leaves room for different interpretations. Since Roman law in the Middle Ages "had the same authority and similar venerations as the Bible," it is important to interpret it in terms of republican or authoritarian spirit. Both sides of the debate accepted that the emperor's power derived from the transfer of the people or the community. But one group believed that the people had transferred all their power to the emperor once and for all and could not take it back; The other believed that the transfer was only a permit, a transfer of positions and use rights, while the entity of the ruling power remained in the hands of the Roman people, and the emperor was only the "agent" of the people's power, so the people still enjoyed legislative power in the contemporary era. It manifests itself, on the one hand, in the confirmation or denial of law by custom, and, on the other, in the withdrawal of the power which the people have transferred. While the former explanation encourages authoritarian tendencies, the latter fits in with and reinforces the standard medieval theory.
As a faithful expression of civic culture, Aristotle understood the city-state as a community of citizens, and the characteristics of citizens are to participate in the legislative and judicial affairs of the city-state. After the "Aristotelian Revolution" in the 13th century, his interpretation of the democratic spirit of the city-state was integrated into the mainstream tradition of European thought, and provided theoretical support for its further deepening. Aquinas,
Marsilius
Thinkers such as John of Paris and Battulus absorbed Aristotle's idea of city-state democracy and applied it to the Middle Ages
Political reality
. In Marsillo, the theory of "people's legislator" no longer only defines the attribution of political authority in an abstract and general way, but develops into a relatively specific regulation of the legislative subject. "The first and valid source of the legislator or of the law is the people or the citizenry as a whole or a significant part thereof." To command and determine, by their choice or by their will expressed in words in the assembly of citizens, what is permissible and what is forbidden in the worldly conduct of mankind..." Thus, through the interpretation of Roman law and the absorption of Aristotelian theory, medieval thought inherited and activated the juridical tradition of Germanic democracy, and gave stronger theoretical support to the belief that the social community was the ultimate source and concrete owner of political power.
The cornerstone of the Democratic principle:
Medieval political thought did not stop at the abstract legal stipulation that political power originates from and belongs to the social community, but further affirmed that the actual exercise of political power requires some form of consent from the community. An important part of the idea of consent was the feudal contractual relationship, which was medieval
Social relation
The foundation of... The premise of contractual relationship is the agreement of both parties. A contract is established and dissolved by mutual consent. The contractual relationship created the legal bond between the Lord and his companion. Both parties to the contract were bound by the contract, and the affairs involving both parties were agreed by both parties. So, the concept of consent is
feudalism
Consultation is the basic principle of feudal rule, and the entire theory and legal structure of feudalism is based on the voluntary agreement of those who provide services to each other. Because under the feudal system, the relationship between the king and the nobility was also the contractual relationship between the Lord and the vassal, and the king became a member of the feudal community and a creation of the contractual relationship, so the contractual relationship between the private people naturally rose to the abstract contractual relationship between the nobility and the king, that is, the subject or subject
Political community
General constitutional principles with the king, thus making the application of the theory of consent possible here. Numerous medieval coronation oaths and legal documents such as the Magna Carta endorsed the basic principle that the king should consult his subjects and obtain their consent to govern. According to Ullman, kingship in the Middle Ages has a duality, that is, divine authority and feudal power. Divine authority tends to keep kingship out of popular control, while feudal power places kingship under contract. Therefore, he called the feudal government "the incubator of civil rights theory." Another important source of consent is found in the theory and practice of the Church. The early Church affirmed the principle that the conduct of the Church and the election of bishops and other clergy should be subject to the consent of the clergy and the people. Early fathers
Tiprian
He claimed that his style of carrying out his duties as bishop was to do nothing without the advice of the clergy and the consent of the diocese. Pope Celestine I instructed that "bishops should not be imposed on those who do not want them." He stipulated that the consent and desire of the clergy, the people, and the nobility were necessary for the selection of bishops.
Pope Leo I reiterated this guiding principle more explicitly: "Those who govern the people must be chosen by the people." "No one shall be appointed bishop without the election of the clergy, the approval of the people, and the appointment of a prefect with the consent of the Archbishop." In some monastic orders, notably the Abbey of Cluny, which arose in the 10th century and soon spread throughout Europe, a more standardized system of democratic elections had been established, with the abbot freely elected by the monks. This was later done
Secular state
Follow suit. The revival of Roman law in the 12th century gave the medieval idea of consent its basis in Roman law and its most precise and concise expression: "What concerns all requires the consent of all." This maxim was originally a principle of Roman private law. On the basis of
The Code of Justinian
In a situation where a ward has several guardians, certain acts require the consent of all guardians because they concern the interests of all guardians. It establishes the principle of private law that when several persons have common and indivisible rights and interests in a particular matter, their joint administration can be terminated only with the consent of each party. This principle of private law expanded its connotation under suitable conditions in the Middle Ages and was extended to the field of public law. It is claimed that laws are made with the consent of those subject to them; The selection of Kings or officials shall be with the consent of those subject to their jurisdiction; Taxation and use of the tax must be approved by the taxpayer, etc. Thus, the modern expert on the history of representative institutions in Europe, A. Macronge, points out that the maxim that "what concerns all must be agreed upon by all" is A fundamental principle of democracy. This principle, in conjunction with the Church's ancient democratic tradition, was first invoked by church jurists in the 11th century to serve in securing the right to elect bishops from secular rulers. In the 12th and 13th centuries, with the revival of Roman law, jurists rediscovered this principle and creatively applied it to a wide range of civil and ecclesiastical problems, especially to matters of rights belonging to many, cooperative, and common people.
In the field of Canon law, it was used as a general principle in conjunction with the "consent of the faithful" principle of the early Church, for example in the selection of bishops and other ecclesiastical offices up to the election of the Pope. Bernard of Clermont, for example, cited this "ancient principle" in the mid-12th century, arguing that everyone affected by episcopal elections should take part in them. It is also used in the formulation of ecclesiastical law and in the judicial and administrative activities of the Church, and has become a guideline for the conduct of the Church as a whole. For example, important matters affecting all believers need to be discussed at relevant meetings. The Church later settled on the position that it would refuse to pay taxes to secular rulers without the consent of the clergy. The synod movement at the end of the Middle Ages, known as the "constitutional movement of the Church," was also based on this principle. As Ullman points out in his analysis of the theory of the Synod, the aim of the ecclesiastical thinkers was: "Since doctrine and Christian theory affect every Christian, the definition of doctrinal and theoretical views should not be left to one man, the Pope, but to the whole community of believers, and the principle that what concerns all must be agreed upon has been applied." The Convention movement failed, but its principles were later carried forward in the realm of the secular state. In the realm of secular law, this principle was used extensively in the judiciary and in public political life, where major decisions such as the election of the king, the legislative activities of the state, and taxation were made in some way with the consent of all levels of society.
By the 13th century, this principle had become widespread. After careful study, G. Post pointed out that the 13th century jurists borrowed and combined three concepts, applying the narrow principle of consent in private law procedure, "what concerns everyone needs everyone's consent," to the government of the community. The three concepts are: first, even if a minority does not agree, the majority still has the right to decide on Community affairs; Second, inheriting the classical principle of procedure by making the consent of all stakeholders an essential feature of due process; Third, to make the consent of the individual or the majority affiliated with the opinions of the group or community, or
Public welfare
It was believed that the ruler was its sole guardian or judge. Historians have believed that King Edward I of England elevated the principle to the status of "King of England" by quoting the maxim directly in his edict summoning Parliament in 1295
Constitutional principle
This Parliament, which was consciously convened in accordance with this principle, is also considered
British parliamentary system
The beginning of... However, recent research has uncovered a large number of official documents using this principle from earlier in the 13th century, suggesting that it was already generally accepted and widely used as a principle of public law in European countries by then. The application of the principle that "what concerns all must be agreed by all" to political power structures was reflected in the general acceptance of mixed polity by political thinkers in the late Middle Ages.
The political design of the mixed regime will
monarchy
In the Middle Ages, the admiration of the first two elements was quite natural, and in arguing for the elements of democracy, thinkers often invoked the principle that "what concerns all must be agreed upon." Aquinas, speaking of a mixed government, said that every man should have his share in the government, and that there should be a king, a head of the nobility, and representatives of the people elected by universal suffrage. Marsillo pointed out that the best laws are made by adopting the opinions and demands of the majority, because what affects the interests of all should be known by all. According to Nicholas of Cusa, "The legislative power belongs to those who are bound by the law, or to the most important part of it, because what concerns all requires their consent." When a man himself participates in the making of the law, he finds no excuse for his disobedience. Gerson also insisted that the best form of government should include all elements, namely monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, arguing that "it is intolerable that the judgment of the individual should guide the state, and that what concerns all must be agreed upon by all, and should be decided by the greater and wiser judgment of all." Mixed government was a standard design of government by medieval thinkers. By combining the principle that "what concerns all must be agreed upon" with the political design of a mixed polity, the abstract stipulation that "political power derives from and belongs to the social community" is put into practice because it finds an institutional basis. The principle of the abstract attribution of power is embodied in the democratic way of the concrete use of power.
3. Democratic programming:
However, how was the "consent of the people" to be expressed or how was the will of the "people" to be known? What the people of the early Middle Ages could imagine was still the direct democracy model of the city-state era, "democratic power can only be exercised by the citizens themselves and directly, without sending ballot boxes to various places." Or the democratic operation of sending delegates from different regions to the capital." The remaining Germanic popular assemblies were also direct democracies. When this kind of direct democracy has been unable to operate in a large country, it is necessary to invent a new way to exercise the power of the social community, which is representative system. Representative system is one of the most important inventions of the Middle Ages. The invention of representative system needs to solve several key problems in the ideological concept: first, the formation of the concept of representation, that is, a person, a number of people or a group can elect their representative, authorize him to express his will and exercise his power, and the will expressed by the representative is regarded as their own will; Second, the concept of a representative body, whereby decisions made by a representative body composed of representatives selected from all levels and groups in the country are regarded as decisions of the community as a whole; Third, the confirmation of the rules of procedure of the representative body, among other things, that decisions are made in accordance with the principle of quantity, that is, the opinion of the majority is regarded as the opinion of the whole. In Roman times there was the concept of a social community that transferred power to the emperor, who was then seen as the representative of the empire. In the Middle Ages, people saw the monarch as a representative of the community, but the meaning of representation here is only to see the monarch as a personal symbol of the community in an allegorical way, while the community is seen as an abstract whole, which is completely different from the concept of representation in representative democracy. As Monaghan points out, "It is only when society as an aggregate is seen as a collection of individuals with their own rights and interests that the concept of representative community begins to reflect the representative characteristics of democracy." The medieval people were unfamiliar with the concept of a political community as a collection of individuals, which in their conception was an organic combination of several sub-communities, of which the representative was also the representative. However, this medieval idea forms the precursor of modern representative thought.
According to Monaghan, two concepts of Roman origin contributed to the idea of "representation" : the concept of the legal person, that an entity as a collection or group can itself be regarded as a person; The second is the concept of agent, that is, agent as an individual can embody and represent another person or group and can act as another person or group. When the two concepts are fully developed, the meaning of representation is based on the individual rights of all members of political society. The modern theory of parliamentary democracy, in which elected representatives have legislative power, was born." We can see how medieval thought came closer to this idea. The concept of legal person developed gradually towards the end of the 12th century. According to Roman law, a legal person is a virtual person, a group of people with a common interest. The rights and interests of the Community as a whole belong to the legal person. With the development of the concept of legal person as a person, the concept of agent could only be applied to legal persons, and then the concept of a body corporate represented by a single person appeared. The development from the medieval concept of agent to the modern concept of representative first appeared in the ecclesiastical community, and by the end of the 12th century, the concepts of legal person and representative had been widely used in ecclesiastical and secular law.
The congregations of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, which were composed of representatives from the various churches, were understood to represent the whole church.
William of Occam
In drawing a diagram of indirect democracy in the Church, it is written that legislative bodies should arise from the following steps: In each basic-level diocese or other small community, the assembly of all the faithful selects delegates to the electing meetings of dioceses, kingdoms, or other political units, through which delegates are reelected to the ecumenical synod, which can truly represent the Church, though not convened or presided over by the Pope. By the 13th century, the concept of "representation" was more substantial. Philip once said that those "elected by the whole have the powers conferred upon them by the whole." Huguenus further deduces from this idea of elections the modern idea of representation: "The people elected by the whole, or by a large part of it, or by a large part of the community, whose corresponding actions are the actions of the social community as a whole."
The provisions concerning the nature and powers of "representation" are clearly articulated in various parliamentary summonses and related discussions. As early as 1182-1185, a Canon law work on procedure confirmed that the elected representatives must have full powers. 1200, the Pope
Innocent the Third
From six Italians
City state
Delegates were summoned to the papal council with clear instructions that they must have full powers. In 1295, the English convened the counties and
borough
Town representatives stipulate that these representatives have full authority to make decisions for the area they represent and accept decisions made by the entire meeting. Obviously, such county and town representatives were quite different from feudal lords, and although they were not necessarily elected, and might only be obedient in parliament, their representative status was certain. By the fourteenth century, the idea that delegates should be fully authorized or have full authority had become widely accepted by ecclesiastical and secular authorities, and that decisions made by the community should be agreed by representatives with full authority became the general rule of both councils. This concept was also widely accepted by many jurists, such as Battulus, Baldos and Upadus. The concept of representation, combined with the principle that what concerns all requires the consent of all, provides the strongest theoretical basis for the legitimacy of parliament and its powers. Because its members represent different groups and classes in society, Parliament is considered to represent the political authority of the social community.
In the long China
Slave society
And the long history of feudal society has been authoritarian politics. The emergence and development of the thought of representative democracy in China can be roughly divided into three stages, namely the "constitutional monarchy" period in the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China period, and the People's Republic of China period.
The defeat of the Opium War in 1840 prompted people of insight in China to start thinking and looking for ways to save the nation and survive. With the spread of Western learning to the east, the idea of Western representative system began to spread in China.
Hundred Days' Reform was the first attempt of representative system in China. The failure of the Reformists shows that the conditions for the implementation of representative system in China do not exist.
Under the influence of the thought of representative system, many people with noble ideals persuaded Cixi to implement the representative system, and the Qing Dynasty also carried out many "constitutional" activities and established representative organs in the last decade before its collapse. In August 1908, the first book in Chinese history was published
Written constitution
Outline of the King James Constitution. 1911's"
Article 9 of the Constitution
". However, its fundamental idea was only to maintain imperial power in the Qing Dynasty, rather than real democracy. The imperial power is exclusive, the powerful resist, and the representative system cannot work.
Nanjing Provisional Government
Period (January 1 - April 2, 1912). On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China was officially established. On the 28th of the same month, it was established
senate
. On March 11, the Senate approved the bill
Republic of China Provisional Convention
It established a representative democratic republic with the separation of powers, and changed the presidential system to parliament
cabinet
It strengthens the status and role of representative organs.
Beijing Government (April 1912 - April 1927). This period experienced the "Provisional Treaty Law", "New Treaty Law", "New Treaty Law" and "New Treaty Law".
Hong Xian imperial system
"And" law protection ", the ruling army and the military government and other stages. The end of 1915
Yuan Shikai
A fake plebiscite to the throne, a complete abandonment of representative democracy. After Yuan Shikai's death,
Beiyang Warlords
The factions jostled for power and wealth, taking turns to change the president, the cabinet, and the prime minister, although nominally reintroduced the representative republican system of government, and enacted the constitution of the Republic.
Constitution of the Republic of China
"(historically known as"
Vote-buying constitution
", "Cao Kun Constitution"), that is, but in fact a military dictatorship.
Nanjing National government
Period (April 1927 to September 1949). At the beginning of the national government, it was basically based on the three-order strategy proposed by Sun Yat-sen in his late years (military administration, administration training, constitutionalism), the separation of political power and administration, and the five powers (legislative power, judicial power, constitutional power).
Executive power
The right to examination, the right to supervise) is carried out in accordance with the principles of the Constitution. The year 1928
National Revolutionary army
After occupying Pingjin and overthrowing the central government in Beijing, the period of "military and political" was declared over and the period of "political training" began. During the so-called "military administration" and "political training" period, the draft Constitution of the Republic of China was promulgated on May 5, 1936, which stipulated that the elected National Assembly was the organ of political power. However, because the Kuomintang was busy with civil war and the outbreak of Anti-Japanese War, representative system was not really implemented.
After the founding of New China, the Communist Party became
The ruling party
The socialist representative system was implemented.
Socialist country
The idea of representative system originated from Marx
Friedrich Engels
The scientific socialism. Engels believed that a socialist state could only practice
Democratic republic
.
Lenin
While affirming and criticizing representative system, he also creatively developed the theory of socialist representative system, saying: "Democratic republic is the best political shell adopted by capitalism." The way to get rid of the parliamentary system is not to abolish the representative body and the election system, but to transform the representative body from a talking shop into a working body. The ideal representative system, in Lenin's mind, would be the Paris Commune model of a unity of action, "in those institutions where the commune replaces the corrupt parliaments of bourgeois society, the freedom of opinion and discussion does not become a fraud, because the parliamentarians must work themselves, carry out the laws they pass, check the results of their actual execution." Personally accountable to their constituents. Representative institutions still exist, but this special system of parliamentarism, this division of the legislature and the executive, this privileged position enjoyed by parliamentarians, does not exist here."
Mao Zedong
During the Anti-Japanese War, in order to adapt to the situation of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, comrades proposed the "three-three system" (Communist Party members, progressives, and intermediate elements each account for one-third) of the border district government councils
Institutional theory
.
The National People's Congress
A system of provincial people's congresses, county people's congresses, district people's congresses and township people's congresses, and congresses at all levels elect the government. However, a truly universal and equal election system should be implemented without distinction between men and women, religion, property, and education. This is the theoretical basis for the establishment of the people's congress system. From early
Congress system of workers, peasants and soldiers
The idea of the National Assembly during the Anti-Japanese War until the later People's Congress. All these are the theoretical basis for the system of people's congresses ------, a system of representative work with Chinese characteristics.
The people's Congress system implemented by the People's Republic of China is also a form of representative system, but it is fundamentally different from the parliamentary system of Western countries, and it is a new type of representative system. According to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, all state power belongs to the people, who exercise state power through the people's congresses. The National People's Congress is the highest organ of state power. It exercises state power in a unified manner. It not only directly exercises legislative power, but also creates administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs of the state. These organs are accountable to the people's Congress and subject to its supervision, thus ensuring that the people truly exercise state power. Although there is a division of functions and powers between the people's Congress and the administrative and judicial organs, it is not
Separation of powers
The relationship, but the practice of democratic centralism.
The system of people's congresses is a representative system with Chinese characteristics. It has a short history of development and there are still many shortcomings. We should further improve the system of people's congresses to ensure that the people are truly masters of their own country
Political restructuring
An important task to advance the construction of political civilization in our country.
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The system of people's congresses
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parliamentarism
(parliamentary system in a representative system)
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imparity
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Supreme body
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congress
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Permanent establishment
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Hold state power
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Generally does not hold state power
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Exercise power
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Power of legislation, appointment, removal, decision and supervision
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Supreme judicial, legislative, supervisory, etc
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Form a government
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Delegates to the People's Congress draw up candidates and vote on them
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Having won a majority of seats in a parliamentary election
Party leader
To act as Prime Minister (Prime Minister) and form a government
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Relations between state organs
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similarity
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Election of parliamentarians: elected by the people. (Exception: the House of Lords, which is partly hereditary)
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The Government, the highest judicial body, is formed and is accountable to Parliament
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All modern representative systems
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Note: A parliamentary republic is slightly different from a parliamentary constitutional monarchy
