威权”体制下的“司法独立”——新加坡司法体制对中国的启示 (Maintaining Judicial Independence in Authoritarian States: Singapore's Lessons for China)

Abstract

Chinese Abstract: 本文探讨新加坡的司法独立现象对其他国家包括中国的启示。就政治体制而言， 新加坡的政体结构基本沿袭英国的议会民主制框架。新加坡“亚洲威权国家”的名声昭著于世，无 论是中国还是国际上，大多数有自由主义倾向的学者都对这小国的政治体制颇有微词，但新加坡仍可谓是法治国家，法治是”新加坡模式“的最大特征。新加坡的司法系统发达完善，司法也相当独立，虽然仍面临一些局限。本文认为，新加坡的司法独立说明，在一党领政的威权国家，也可能发展出相对独立的司法体制，另一方面，独立的司法仅仅是法治的内在要求，反过来也不一定促进民主改革，虽然它反倒有可能增强执政党的合法性。

English Abstract: This paper examines how judicial independence is maintained and safeguarded in Singapore, a country which has a strong tradition of the rule of law but is often regarded as an authoritarian state in the West. It argues that Singapore's political and legal systems are able to maintain and protect judicial independence in a thin version of the rule of law, which opens the possibility for establishing limited judicial independence in China while it maintains the authoritarian party-state political system.

Note: Downloadable document is in Chinese.

Keywords: Judicial Independence; Rule of Law; Authoritarian State; Singapore; China; Law and Development

JEL Classification: K40; P37