Discussion of the concept of constitutional government

周薇

Abstract：The constitutional government， refers to the concept of a political operation legalization or ideal state， it requires that the government all the exercise of power was incorporated into the orbit of the constitution and constitutional constraints. Designed to safeguard human rights and freedom.

Keywords：constitutional；by the people；rule of constitution

Constitutionalism is to create a civilization achievements in human history. It is the efforts to the pursuit of human society since modern constitution political governance objectives， content， means of constitutionalism， the constitution， constitutional government process， constitutional system， constitutional evaluation should are basic issues of constitutional jurisprudence.

In China， a positive attitude for constitutional concept and system of almost includes all pursue democratic thinker and politician， although the expression is different but the same basic meaning. Such as kang you wei believes： "constitutionalism， administration of the civil rights meetings also." Xiao Gong right to think： "the constitution is the permanent foundation of democracy， the constitution is the source of all legal system， the constitution is good， is all legal system can be good." System of sun yat-sen "the three people's principles" as its theoretical basis， with the "five-power constitution" constitution as his political ideal pursuit of the highest， clearly put forward the "military rule， political tutelage and constitutional government" stage of development. China so far， the most authoritative constitutional concept is the most widely accepted in 1940， MAO zedong in the new-democratic constitutional government. He said， "what is constitutional government？ Is the democratic political." New-democratic constitutional government， "is to combine several revolutionary classes for traitors and reactionaries dictatorship"， is "not by one party school class dictatorship".

So-called constitutionalism， constitutional politics， refers to the democratic constitutional design and form of social and political governance state， is "the people" and "xian" combination and unity. The understanding of the constitutional concept， many things， mainly has the following several aspects： 1， contains democratic constitutionalism， the rule of law， three elements of human rights. Step jurist li cloud that contemporary constitutionalism is a kind of ideal political system， is a created the great civilization of mankind. He gave constitutional under such a definition： "the constitutional government is a country according to the governance of part reflects the constitution of modern civilization， in order to realize a series of democratic principles and system as the main content， and to require strict rule of law as the basic characteristics， the most widely to fully realize human rights for the purpose of a kind of political system." According to this definition， the concept of constitutionalism includes three basic elements： the democracy， the rule of law and human rights. Democracy is the foundation of the constitutional government， rule of law is its main conditions， human rights protection is the aim of constitutionalism. 2， constitutionalism is to limit government. Liu Junning said： "the essence of constitutionalism is and must be a limited government. Look in constitutionalism， regardless of the organizational form of a government， are not allowed to exist there is no limit on the highest power.... nearly two centuries， constitutionalism's biggest goal has been to restrict government power， prevent arbitrary political behavior." People think： "is the premise of the constitution， constitutional government with democracy as the core， to the rule of law as the foundation， to safeguard human rights for the purpose of political ideology or political process." Constitution is the precondition of constitutionalism， and constitutionalism is the life of the constitution. Therefore， the content of the constitution directly determine the content of the constitutionalism， constitutional purpose is the purpose of the constitutional government； No constitution， no constitutionalism， and leave the constitutionalism， the constitution has become a dead letter.

At the same time in the discussion of the concept of constitutionalism， but also grasp the following three characteristics： first， the constitutionalism is a state of political governance. Constitutionalism is the political indicators of social governance， is the pursuit of political construction and political development of a target； On the other hand also refers to the relative to a specific constitutional government in terms of governance processes， management means and management factors， is a kind of result， is through the political construction and management and to a measurable stable structure and can grasp the tangible achievements. Second， the constitutional government is a state of democratic governance. Constitutionalism is refers to the first civil rights， namely the power of the people. In the condition of constitutional government， civil rights is the source of power， a constitutional or refers to the specific performance in civil rights in the operation of political power， namely the tangible democracy. "The people" is the symbol of constitutional governance state. Third， the constitutional government is constitutional governance democratic state， namely the "xian" state of democratic governance. As a "constitutional democratic state，" refers to the first has to confirm the civil rights and democracy as the core content of the constitution and the enforcement of the constitution principle， the realization of democratic governance as the content of a set of effective constitutional law system； Secondly， it is to point to the tenet of "the constitution is supreme" the principle of democratic governance， governance become a part of the social democracy by constitution and natural state of social life. In conclusion， constitutionalism is the core and essence of "the people" and a high degree of unity "xian". Constitutional involves two kinds of relationships： 1， the relationship between the government and citizen， namely the power and freedom. 2， the relationship between the departments of the government， or of the government's power to the different properties and its application.

Understand the concept of constitutional government must also correct understanding of "the people" and "xian" relationship. On the one hand， to recognize the "constitution" and "people" is the relationship between form and content， "xian" is to be in the form of constitutional government， "the people" is the soul of the constitutional government， the role of both in this kind of political governance state constitutional government and the way is different； On the other hand， "the people" and "xian" is mutual penetration， be short of one cannot. "The people" is the xian governance standard of the people， "xian" is performed by the people requirement of constitutional rule. "The people" and "xian" on the inherent regularity of constitutional government is of equal importance， no split both unity relations or the two points and the understanding of primary and secondary is not correct.

References

[1] "selected works" volume 3， pp. 736 ～ 735 Step.

[2] li yong zhou yezhong： "basic constitutional category as".

[3] dong peace： the constitutional law press， second edition， 2007， p. 146.

[4] li cloud： "constitutionalism with Chinese"， in 1993.