Wenzhi And The Constitution, 1918-1920

The transformation from traditional dynasty's Wenzhi to modern state's civilian control is too rapid,and all the endeavors must be done on the total aim of making China prosperous and strong.From the perspective of military-civil relations,focusing on the 1918-1920 Beijing government, this dissertation analyzes and understands how the over-expanded localism and military powers affect the actual functions of the institutions regulated by the constitution and also how the Constitutionalism Crisis has been settled.By narrating the Participation Army and the An-fu club initiated by Duan Qirui,and Hsu Shih-ch'ang's endeavors to make peace between the factions,we can find out how the military leaders become warlords,and the civilians participating in the politics become politicians dependent to military strength although the warlords are ever trying to build up a political system to confine in some extent the military strengths.In the alliance of the military and politician the implement of constitution and constitutional institutions only become the decorations,so the factions can find all kinds of reasons to justify their actions.The political result of the alliance governance is that it can only attract a narrow political participation while the splits and chaos it created produce a huge chance for the development and spread of anti-warlordism.In the proceeding of anti warlords,people can only appeal to another stronger military strength to eliminate these spitting strengths,and the militarization of politics is still the question we can not avoid.