內森·加德爾斯：習近平挑戰西方治理模式——從無畏到實幹

【《習近平談治國理政》多語種圖書8日在當天開展的德國法蘭克福國際書展上舉行首發式，向國際社會介紹中國的治國理念和執政方略。德國前總理施羅德在首發式上對此書讚賞有加，並稱贊習近平主席是一位遠見卓識的改革家。該書引起外媒熱議，本文原載於美國《赫芬頓郵報》網站，觀察者網楊晗軼譯。】

德國前總理施羅德在《習近平談治國理政》首發式上對此書讚賞有加

過去幾年裏，抨擊西方政治衰朽、會診民主制度機能障礙的書出了不少。

弗朗西斯·福山在其權威新作《政治秩序和政治衰朽》中，冷峻地審視了“對抗性的司法主義”是如何腐化法治；以及美國的特殊利益集團是如何用“否決政治”製造政治僵局、阻礙革新的。

福山這部著作包含的許多主題與《智慧治理：21世紀東西方之間的中庸之道》（中文版由觀察者網朱新偉等翻譯）不謀而合。在這本曾被《金融時報》評為年度最佳的書中，我和尼古拉斯·伯格魯恩提出，在美國的“消費者民主”制度下，選民的短視性，再加上特殊利益對“一人一票”選舉的俘虜，使美國政治體制喪失了自我糾錯的能力。

這裏要提到的第三本書是《第四次革命:重塑國家的全球競爭》。該書作者暨《經濟學人》雜誌編輯約翰·米克斯維特和阿德里安·伍爾德里奇宣稱，我們再也不能做這樣的假設：一個低效的、僵化的自由主義福利國家，能跑贏正在崛起的亞洲對手——特別是中國。

中國國家主席習近平上任兩年來，分秒必爭地鞏固了權力，如今又以《習近平談治國理政》這本長達500頁的大部頭，加入到全球治理模式的競爭中來。而且這本書還有英文版！在書中，這位後毛澤東時代最有權力的中國領導人，詳細地向世界解釋了中國的運作方式，在習的任期內中國意圖走向何方，以及中國獨特的治理體系將如何指引中國達成目標。

《習近平談治國理政》的出版，標誌着全球化已進入新篇章。自冷戰結束以來，全球化產生了激烈的經濟競爭；從現在開始，全球化必將包括治理模式的競爭。

習近平的著作是一部“反回憶錄”，或者説是一部倒過來寫的回憶錄。《習近平談治國理政》不是領導人淡出政治舞台後，為回顧過去而收錄的一系列講話和公告；而是在習領導下的中國雄心勃勃的改革宣言。

這本書勾勒出習近平所講的“中華民族偉大復興”的輪廓，解釋了為什麼中國最高領導層相信一黨體制下的協商式決策過程比一人一票的投票制度更加民主——因為它考慮到了全社會的整體利益。在書中，習近平正面闡述了關於治國理政的一系列問題：向貪污腐敗宣戰；應對生態環境挑戰；建設中美新型大國關係；堅決轉向市場化資源配置；保障進城務工的農民工平等權利；以及在大規模城鎮化的新背景下消除貧困。此外，他還討論了中國的法治建設。

事實上，西方讀者必須得消化略顯生硬的話語，才能全面解讀習近平的意思。（習近平在努力用大白話取代黨八股，但這仍是一項有待加強的改革）。在繁複的段落中，埋藏着許多根本性的轉型，譬如司法權與行政管轄權適當分離，從而建立法院的獨立性（第92頁）。但如果你真想抓住當前中國鉅變的實質；真想了解凝聚共識型（而非多黨競爭型）政治體制對實現中國目標的核心重要性，多花點工夫去消化理解也是值得的。

如果奧巴馬擔任參議員時的傳記叫做《無畏的希望》，習近平的著作可以被稱為《從無畏到實幹》。

是的，這本書亞馬遜商城有售（除了英文版，還有法文、俄文、阿拉伯文、西班牙文、葡萄牙文、德文、日文版）。

（點擊下一頁，查看英文原文）

 

   

How to Turn Audacity into Effective Action: China’s Xi Jinping Challenges the Western Model of Governance

In the past few years there have been a slew of books decrying the political decay and dysfunction of Western democracy.

In his magisterial new work, “Political Order and Political Decay,” Francis Fukuyama takes a hard look at how “adversarial judicialism” has corrupted the rule of law and how the emergence of a special interest “vetocracy” has blocked change and produced gridlock in the United States.

Fukuyama’s book traces many of the same themes raised by myself and Nicolas Berggruen in our book, “Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East,” flagged as a “best book of the year” by the Financial Times. We argue that, in America’s “consumer democracy,” the short-term horizon of the voter combined with the capture of one-person-one vote elections by special interests has paralyzed the capacity of our political system to self-correct.

In a third book, “The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State,“Economist editors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge posit that we can no longer assume that an inefficient and gridlocked liberal welfare state can outcompete rising rivals in Asia, particularly China.

Now China’s President Xi Jinping, who has wasted not a moment over the past two years consolidating his power, enters the global competition with a 500 page tome titled “The Governance of China.” And it is in English! At great length, the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao explains to the world how China works, what it intends to do in the coming years during his tenure at the top and how its unique governing system will get it there.

The publication of Xi’s book marks a new chapter of globalization. While globalization since the end of the Cold War has entailed fierce economic competition, from now on it will also entail a competition of models of governance.

Xi’s book is an anti-memoir, or a memoir in reverse. Rather than the normal collection of speeches and proclamations only published once a leader is out of office and looking back at his legacy, “The Governance of China” is a manifesto of the ambitious reform path upon which China has embarked under Xi’s leadership.

The book outlines what Xi means by “rejuvenating the Chinese nation” and explains the consultative decision making process of a one-party system that China’s top leaders believe is more democratic - taking into account the interests of all of society - than one-person-one-vote elections. He lays down the gauntlet on corruption. He addresses the ecological challenge, the geopolitics of the “new great power relationship with the United States,” the decisive shift toward the market, equality for migrant workers in the cities and ending poverty in the context of massive new urbanization. And he discusses the evolution toward the rule of law.

The Western reader, it is true, will have to wade through way too much wooden rhetoric to decipher what it all means. (One sorely missing reform is jettisoning Party-speak for plain language). Many of the fundamental transformations - for example separating the judiciary from administrative jurisdictions, thus forging independence of the courts (P. 92) --- are buried in long-winded passages. But the wade is worth the while if you want to grasp the enormity of the changes China is undergoing and how central a consensus forming - as opposed to multi-party competitive - political system is to realizing those goals.

If Barack Obama’s pre-presidential biography was called “The Audacity of Hope,” Xi’s book could be called “How to Translate Audacity into Effective Action.”

And yes, the book is available on Amazon (and also in French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Japanese).