Original
Updating Tocqueville's Remedies Against Democratic Despotism: Civic Engagement, Local Self‐Governance, and Public Administration
Abstract
ABSTRACT Tocqueville's Democracy in America offers fundamental insights into the mutually supportive relationship between civic engagement and local self‐governance, which has become more critical as the United States faces rising authoritarianism. The governance context of the United States has changed: diminished incentives for civic engagement, national partisanship swaying local public affairs, bureaucratic machinery even at the local level, more complex policy problems, increasing tensions across units and levels of government, and social media shaping citizens' political perceptions. Tocqueville's remedies against democratic despotism—the art (institutions) and habits of liberty—remain relevant. Yet we must update his remedies by strengthening secondary bodies, cultivating the habits of liberty through local self‐governance and civic engagement, reinforcing constitutional forms, protecting individual rights, and mitigating revolutionary impulses. Public administrators must exercise leadership to renew our commitment to the art and habits of liberty from the bottom up, maintaining resilience against the imminent and long‐term threats of democratic despotism.
中文
更新托克维尔对民主专制的补救之策：公民参与、地方自治与公共行政
摘要
托克维尔的《论美国的民主》深刻揭示了公民参与与地方自治之间相互支持的关系；随着美国面临日益上升的威权主义，这一关系变得更为关键。美国的治理语境已经发生变化：公民参与的激励减弱，全国性党派对立影响地方公共事务，官僚机器即便在地方层面也存在，政策问题更加复杂，政府单位与层级之间的紧张加剧，社交媒体塑造着公民的政治认知。托克维尔针对民主专制所提出的补救之道——自由的艺术（制度）与自由的习惯——依然具有相关性。然而，我们必须更新其补救之道：强化次级团体，通过地方自治与公民参与培育自由的习惯，巩固宪政形式，保护个人权利，并缓和革命冲动。公共行政者必须发挥领导作用，自下而上地重新承诺于自由的艺术与习惯，从而在面对民主专制近期与长期威胁时保持韧性。
关键词
托克维尔、民主专制、公民参与、地方自治、公共行政、自由习惯、民主韧性、美国治理