现代西方国家政府职能变迁及其启示

政府职能是政府具有的职责或作用。笔者对西方现代国家政府职能演变的过程进行了初步梳理，认为从历史演变来看，西方政府职能一直有不断扩张的趋势。总结历史，西方启蒙思想家所设想的权力对权力的制约效果是有限的，现代社会对权力的监督越来越依赖于公民权利伸张对权力的制约。在现行体制下，中国也应该借助于公民权利的力量，培育公民社会，加强权利对权力的监督。

Changes of Government's Functions in Modern Western Countries and Their Enlightenments for China

Government's functions refer to the duty or the role of the government.After combing through the changes of government's functions in Western countries of modern time,this paper suggests that the government's functions have been increasingly expanded in the Western countries.When summarizing the history,one may find that the power assumed by the Western enlightenment thinkers has limited restrictive effect on government's power.In modern society,the supervision on power more and more depends on civil rights...