Seeking The Balance Between Passive Protection And Active Participation

Deliberative democracy is a new stage of participatory democracy. In recent years, the theory of deliberative democracy has gradually become a hot issue in the academic field, and many scholars and officials feel very optimistic about its prospect applied in China. However, deliberative democracy in the West relies on special context, and it can not be completely suitable to China. Therefore, in this paper, the development of the theory of participatory democracy will be analyzed in order to get the clear understanding of the essence of deliberative democracy, and provide the basis on which we critically learn from deliberative democracy.In this paper, beginning with the tension between the passive protection of individual rights and the active participation in politics, it will be argued that the root of the crisis of liberal democracy in modern society is the over-emphasizing of the passive protection of individual rights. As a result, the theory of participatory democracy takes on re-emphasizing the active participation to make up for the shortage of liberal democracy. But there is still the inherent tension between the passive protection and the active participation in its development process. Deliberative democracy is the latest production of participatory democracy, and is a balancing mechanism for passive protection and active participation. So, deliberative democracy has important theoretical and practical value. However, the theory of deliberative democracy based on individualism is still mainly concerned with the passive protection of individual rights. As a result, the active participation is still limited, and seeking the balance between passive protection and active participation is still the main issue in the future. Therefore, while learning from participatory democracy, we should absorb the beneficial ingredients, overcome their shortcomings and explore the Chinese characteristics model of democracy in light of specific national conditions under the guidance of Marxism. Generally, the dissertation is divided into four parts: The first chapter traces back the origin of participatory democracy. Through analyzing the background, the reasons of the rising of participatory democracy will be pointed out. Namely, it can be said that the rising of participatory democracy is the response to the crisis of liberal democracy, and that it is not a new theory but the revival of the classical democratic ideals. On the one hand, through deeply analyzing the rise and the crisis of liberal democracy, it will be pointed out that the root of the crisis is over-emphasizing the passive protection of individual rights, at the same time neglecting the important value of the active participation. Therefore, the theory of participatory democracy highlights active participation to make up for the lack of liberal democracy. On the other hand, the theoretical basis of participatory democracy will be considered, including the direct democracy in ancient Greek, the thoughts about active participation of Rousseau and Mill.The main content of the second chapter is related to the construction of the theory of participatory democracy and its inherent difficulties. Through the analysis of the constructive process, it is proved that the essence of participatory democracy is to renew the important values of the active participation on the basis of protecting individual rights, and the fundamental predicament of its development is the inherent tension between the passive protection and the active participation. Concretely, the form of the contemporary theory of participatory democracy could be divided into three stages: The first stage is the beginning stage, related with Cole and Arendt; the second stage is the building stage, related with Pateman and Macpherson; the third stage is the developing stage, related with Toffler, Naisbitt and Barber. Moreover, it will be pointed out that the theory of participatory democracy in nature is the amendment of liberal democracy, and it encounters the tension between passive protection and active participation in its development process.The third chapter is mainly connected with the transformation from participatory democracy to deliberative democracy. This part is an important focus of this paper, in which it is argued that deliberative democracy is a new stage of democratic development. It seeks to have a real say for all people, and achieve the balance between passive protection and active participation. Firstly, the background of deliberative democracy will be reviewed, including the diversification trend in Western society, the plights of the aggregative democracy, and the development of information technology. Secondly, the theory of deliberative democracy will be deeply reflected, including the thoughts of Habermas and Rawls who have important impacts on deliberative democracy, and the thoughts of Gutman, Thompson, Bohman and Dryzek. Thirdly, it is pointed out that deliberative democracy can be regarded as a balancing mechanism between passive protection and active participation.The forth chapter is the generalization and evaluation of participatory democracy. The value and limitations, the plight, prospect and enlightenment of participatory democracy are pointed out. On the one hand, it is discussed that participatory democracy is a new stage of democracy theory in the west. Theorists of participatory democracy have revealed many defects of liberal democracy. Participatory democracy has the meaning of surpassing the existing model of democracy, and embodies the new trend of theoretical development. On the other hand, it is argued that deliberative democracy is based on the individualism, so active participation is still limited. Moreover, the practice of deliberative democracy in Western countries in recent years is reviewed. Its difficulties are pointed out and its prospect is forecasted. Finally, there is enlightenment to China. The aim of Marxist is to achieve the all-round development of people, so under its guidance, the democratic model of China can really go beyond participatory democracy.