摘要
民主只是自由社会的必要条件,而不是其充分条件。因为一方面,所谓民主,就其本质来说,固然是全体公民掌握最高权力的政治,但是,就其实现来说,却势必是多数公民掌握最高权力的政治。这样,多数公民便可能滥用他们所握有的最高权力,而沦为“多数暴政”。另一方面,即使民主不导致多数对于少数的暴政,却仍然可能导致暴政:一种侵犯每个人的个人自由和个人权利的暴政。因为最高权力就其本性来说与无限权力相通,极易演进为无限权力,因而无论掌握在君主手里,还是掌握在人民手里,都可能成为无限权力而沦为暴政。
democracy is necessary but not sufficient to a free society. On the one hand, democracy, in its essence, means the politics that the whole citizen takes hold of the supreme power; in reality, the majority of the citizen enjoys it. In consequence, they may abuse what they have, which leads to ＇majority tyranny＇. On the other hand, tyranny could still be possible even if democracy does not bring about tyranny of the majority over the minority ： a type of tyranny violating individual freedom and rights. For the supreme power, in its nature, correlates with unrestricted power, which is prone to evolve into unlimited power. As a result, the supreme power has the possibility of becoming unlimited power and becoming tyrannical whether it is in the hands of the monarch or the common people.
出处
《新疆大学学报（哲学社会科学版）》
2006年第1期32-37,共6页
Journal of Xinjiang University(Philosophy and Social Sciences)
关键词
多数暴政
宪政民主
自由原则
majority tyranny
constitutional democracy
freedom principles
