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美国革命中的思想、利益和可信承诺

来源于 《比较》 2023年第2期 出版日期 2023年04月01日
文|杰克·拉科夫 安德鲁·鲁滕 巴里·温加斯特

七、结论:美国革命中的思想、利益和可信承诺

  美国革命、建国以及南北战争依然是美国历史上的典型事件之一。因此,我们仍然对这些问题感兴趣:它为什么会发生?是不可避免的吗?还是某一方设计好的结果?如果是,是谁,目的是什么?是寻求将地方自治和本地统治结合起来的殖民地精英?是英国大臣们试图将英国宪法的腐败延伸到新大陆?还是说这仅仅是一次不幸的意外,是由人们对宪法的观点分歧引起的,而这种分歧一直没有引起人们的注意,导致发展到无法和解的地步?

  正如我们在这篇论文中指出的那样,历史学家之间的共识是,美国革命是关于思想而非利益的运动。但我们的解释表明,这个结论是建立在错误的区分之上的。我们认为思想和利益是互补品,而非替代品,特别是,我们拒绝将利益和行动简单画等号,相反,我们认为关心未来的战略家会考虑其决策在未来会产生什么后果,而且宪法能够将今天的行为和未来的结果联系起来,因此他们非常关注宪法。

  由于殖民地居民担心宪法和利益之间的联系,他们在宪法中的利益不仅反映对抽象理想的偏好,他们最关注的是对理想的承诺是否可信。毕竟在一个利己主义盛行的世界里,不能实现的理想无法保护任何人。因此,殖民地的很多言论都围绕着可信承诺展开也就不足为奇了。

  在整篇论文中,我们已经提出,激进派的精明之处在于他们能够精心设计在政治上取得成功的言论。当然,这是一项了不起的成就。与此同时,他们提出的理论让他们对政治进程的本质有了更深刻的理解。事实上,正如我们的叙述所示,现代学者直到最近才开发出分析工具,使他们能够欣赏革命者的真知灼见。

  (中国社会科学院大学 项宇星 译)

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