实现政治问责的三条道路(英文)

建立一个对人民负责的政府是现代国家治理的核心问题。实现这一目标，需要解决两个最基本的问题：谁来使用权力？如何使用权力？选举制度是解决前一问题相对较好的制度，而预算制度是解决第二个问题最好的制度。通过历史比较分析，可以总结出三条实现政治问责的道路：19世纪的欧洲道路、从建国到进步时代改革的美国道路以及雏形初现的中国道路。这意味着，西方经验并不是唯一的实现政治问责的道路。相对于西方经验来说，中国20世纪80年代以来的国家转型具有极大的特殊性。尽管面临各种挑战，但一条政治问责的中国道路正在形成。

Three Roads to Political Accountability

Establishing an accountable government is a core issue for modern state governance. To achieve this goal, two fundamental questions need to be solved： （1） Who exercises power？ （2） How should the power be exercised？ To the first question, the electoral system offers a relatively good answer; to the second, the budgetary system offers the best answer. Through a historical and comparative analysis, this essay identifies three roads to political accountability： the European road of the nineteenth century, the American road from the founding of the United States to the reform of Progressive Era and the newly emerging Chinese road. This implies that the Western experience does not represent the only route toward political accountability. Compared with Western experience, China＇s state transformation since the 1980s is quite unique. A Chinese road is taking shape despite all the challenges ahead.