/kloc-the process of political democratization in Britain in the 0 th and 9 th centuries.

Abstract: With the profound changes in social and economic fields, political democratization has gradually become the main theme of British history in the19th century. The democratization process in Britain is not only reflected in the parliamentary reform, but also in the municipal government reform. /kloc-in the 0/9th century, popular democracy in Britain was first developed and popularized in cities. Here, the city is the cradle and birthplace of grassroots democracy. Determining the right to vote by taxpayer qualification embodies the concept of the unity of rights and obligations, and abandons the property qualification conditions in parliamentary elections. This is an important step towards modern democracy and a historic progress.

[Keywords:] democratization; Law on Urban Self-government Organs; Britain; trend

With the profound changes in social and economic fields, political democratization has gradually become the main theme of British history in the19th century. Among them, the academic circles are generally concerned about the three parliamentary reform movements. However, due to the strong tradition of social autonomy in Britain, local affairs in various places have always had a strong local and regional color, so it is far from enough to examine the process of social democratization only from the perspective of the central government. The democratization process in Britain is not only reflected in the parliamentary reform, but also in the municipal government reform. Chinese scholars have done in-depth research on parliamentary reform, but little research on local government reform. This paper aims to explore the relationship between the reform of British city government and the process of social democratization in the19th century, so as to deepen the understanding of modern British history.

one

/kloc-the democratization reform of British urban government in the 0 ~ (th) century originated from the practical need to solve urban problems. With the rapid expansion of cities, the rapid increase of population and the development and change of urban functions, emerging towns are facing increasingly serious social, economic and public security management problems. /kloc-in the first half of the 0/9th century, from the plot of Cato Street to the Waterloo incident, social unrest and urban development and construction were not planned. The city streets are winding and narrow, and the houses are crowded. Row houses, painting houses and "back-to-back" houses are full of emerging big cities. The caves, porcelain areas in Liverpool and Manchester and the slums in London are shocking, with almost no public facilities, let alone parks. Therefore, the pressure of urban development itself has led to the reform of urban government.

However, the English-speaking people advocate tradition. In the political field, adhering to the "inaction" of the traditional "small government" and respecting the tradition of local autonomy, since the18th century, the less British government intervened in local affairs, the more traditional it became. In the economic field, since the17th century revolution, the "laissez-faire" advocated by Adam Smith and others has replaced mercantilism and almost become the golden rule of British economic life. People are convinced that the "invisible hand" of the market will naturally adjust and promote social and economic development, and regard state intervention as a rude interference in political freedom and market economy. So in the19th century, urban governance is mostly a model left over from history, which is divided into autonomous cities and towns without autonomy, and the governance methods are different.

One is a town that has no autonomy. They have no charter, so there is no municipal government. From the point of view of political governance, they, like the surrounding villages, are still under the rule of county magistrate and magistrate and pay countyrate. [1](p2) In other words, although they developed into towns in material form, they still stayed in the countryside in terms of governance structure and mental state, based on ancient parishes and fiefs, with narrow administrative scope and limited functions.

The other is a municipality. In British history, autonomous cities have a long tradition, and many autonomous cities developed from free cities in the Middle Ages. Their similarity lies in that they are all chartered by the royal family and have the right to elect their own municipal officials, who preside over the internal affairs of the city and have the right to elect their own mayors. "The autonomous city also has a city Council composed of 12-24 people, which is responsible for supervising the city management and preparing consultants." [2](p300) With the passage of time and the development of history, municipal officials of autonomous cities are often controlled by city giants and regard municipal affairs as an ace in the hole. As a result, the municipal authorities became tools in the hands of the upper class of the city, and father and son, Weng Xu, brother and brother-in-law entered the municipal authorities one after another. They only care about their own interests and are unable to cope with increasingly complex urban affairs, which is completely contrary to the modern democratic spirit. Although the rule of city officials is also effective, such as Liverpool city authorities, on the whole, the old-style urban autonomy is characterized by inefficiency and closure. These municipal government offices often become private things, lacking openness and transparency; We can't change our functions with the development of the city, become a public institution serving the urban masses, and embark on the road of democracy. It only considers the interests of urban property owners, but does not care about the well-being of urban people, which is seriously out of touch with urban construction and development and out of step with the times.

The increasingly serious urban problems cannot be "cured" by doing nothing. Faced with increasingly complex and acute urban problems, cities and towns adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts and adjust measures to local conditions. Most of them set up various improvement committees and levied local special taxes to meet the necessary expenses and solve special problems. They have set up about 300 town improvement committees and various specialized organizations. Among them, the improvement committees in Birmingham and Manchester have achieved success. As early as the second half of the18th century, Birmingham's Improvement Committee successfully removed the obstacles that hindered traffic on the street, such as protruding belly windows, stone steps in front of the door, and basement entrances. , thus laying sidewalks and installing street lighting facilities. /kloc-At the beginning of the 0/9th century, the committee gained new powers, and had the right to levy new taxes and borrow loans, which strengthened its economic strength and made its work more effective. The first improvement committee in Manchester was the police committee established by 1765. By the forties of 19, it had been involved in the fields of paving, lighting, demolition, fire protection, water supply, cleaning and gas supply. However, we can see that improving the work of the Committee is actually a "palliative" solution, which can only carry out special governance work and cannot comprehensively deal with urban problems. Therefore, the reform of urban government is imperative.

Secondly, the change of British economic base urgently needs the corresponding change in the field of political superstructure. Since the second half of the18th century, great changes have taken place in British economic life from a traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial society, which has made the economic strength of the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie grow rapidly, and the acceleration of urbanization in the19th century has strengthened the strength of the bourgeoisie. Some northern industrial cities, such as Birmingham and Manchester, are all owned by non-Christians, and their prosperity depends entirely on non-Christians. However, cities are still restricted by the old Oath Law and Municipal Association Law, and non-Christians are deprived of political rights and have no right to participate in local management. The powerful economic power of the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie is extremely disproportionate to the politically incompetent country.

In this way, at this time, the British city government has either become some private industries, or stayed under the rural rule system, unable to provide services for the expanding towns, and the reform of the city government is indeed imperative. At this time, the social democratization movement in Britain has gradually embarked on a stable and normal track. Since the second half of the18th century, the radical movement of the bourgeoisie has been surging, but it has not developed into a tottering social revolution in France, but through the rational concessions of the ruling class, the middle class can share power and be coordinated. This British-style reform pioneered the elimination of chaos within the system, making 19 century a breakthrough in political democratization. Under this historical background, the reform of British city government may be solved in a democratic way, thus forming an important part of British political democratization.

two

Judging from the decision-makers of the reform, there are two main types of British urban government reform in the19th century: central legislation and urban local legislation. In the central government, 1835' s Law on Urban Self-government Organs began to be implemented, which is essentially the continuation and conclusion of 1832' s parliamentary reform, and its basic principle is to transform autonomous city governments on the basis of democracy. The law stipulates that: firstly, in 65,438+078 cities, more than 200 outdated municipal self-government organizations will be abolished and the old municipal officials will be replaced by elected municipal governments. The municipal government consists of the city council, the mayor and the city counselor committee. City Council is the power organ of urban self-government, and its members are elected by all adult men who have paid local taxes and lived for three years, thus unifying the qualification standards for municipal elections nationwide; Meeting of re-election of mayors and city councillors in the city Council; The term of office of city councilor is 3 years, in which the term of office is re-elected every year13, the term of office of counselor is 6 years, and the term of office of mayor is every 3 years12, and the mayor can be re-elected. Second, cancel the power of city officials and courts, transfer judicial power to magistrates and county courts, and realize the separation of urban judicial power and administrative power. Third, municipal finance is open, and municipal income must be used for local residents, not for private interests or entertainment, thus increasing municipal finance and transparency and helping to reduce corruption. Fourth, local governments can make necessary laws and regulations. Finally, the discussion of the city Council is open and the public can participate. In this way, through the municipal reform of 1835, the free, open and democratic town government replaced the rule of the closed old town oligarchs and broke the administrative control of the town oligarchs.

In autonomous cities, the municipal government formulates local laws and regulations, collects local taxes to balance revenue and expenditure, and is responsible for environmental construction. [3](p223) The power and functions of the newly formed municipal government are expanding day by day, and the social service guarantee function is strengthening day by day. Theoretically, the functions of the original improvement committee have been transferred to the new municipal government, but in actual political life, these institutions did not disappear immediately, but continued to exist for some time; Legally speaking, the new city government has the right to inherit the property of the old city government and become the real authority of the town, but in fact, the oligarchs in the town are not willing to give up their power and property easily, so the city Council has only gradually established its leadership position. In this process, the social functions of towns are still expanding. If 19 had only a handful of institutions in the 1930s, by the end of 19, functions such as gas, tap water, electricity, streets, sewers, parks, sanitation, bathrooms, markets, libraries and museums had been added. In addition, the town police force was successfully established to maintain local order. With the expansion of urban functions, the responsibilities of urban government are expanding day by day to adapt to the changed urban society. Compared with the old city officials, the new city government is more capable of managing the city. /kloc-most of the problems in British municipal affairs in the 0 th and 9 th centuries were solved by local legislation. Of course, because the management of the city is still in the exploratory stage, its legislation mostly deals with and responds to urban problems immediately, and there is still a lack of overall planning.

From the perspective of urban governance, we divide 1870 into two stages: 1835 to 1900. 18352 1870 is the stage of decentralized rule, during which many specialized institutions were established in view of the complexity of urban affairs and the particularity of local affairs. For example, the Poverty Law Committee was established as early as 1834, the Highway Bureau was established in 1835, the Health Bureau was established in 1848 and the Education Bureau was established in 1870. By the 1970s, there were more than 700 local bureaus and committees. [1](p 153) But the defect is that many central decrees and regulations are arbitrary, and whether they are adopted or not is entirely up to the towns themselves, which fails to change the situation of large and small autonomous cities, regional division and diversified local management through central control. Therefore, most local governments at that time still had problems of corruption and inefficiency "[4](p365). The post-70s of 19 is the stage of increasing concentration of power. 187 1 set up a central local government department and start unified planning to guide the work of local governments. Only then did the tradition of local self-government in Britain get a real impact. 1872 the Ministry of the interior was established to strengthen the guidance and supervision of the central government to local governments, gradually enrich the management institutions of the central government, start the process of unified coordination between central government departments and local governments, and establish a modern government structure.

Although the Local Government Act 1888 has solved the county-level setting and the Local Government Act 1894 has completed the reform of local governments except London, only the London Government Act 1899 is the legal norm to truly solve the metropolis-London municipal government, which has conquered the last bastion of the British municipal government. It stipulates that in the London county established in 65,438+0,888, 28 metropolitan area councils and 65,438+0 City of London Company should be re-established to replace the original 38 parish committees. [5](p477)

The reform of British city government initially established the professional management organization of the city, with increasingly centralized power, and strengthened the administrative management of the central government to local governments. This is inseparable from the maturity of the capitalist system in the19th century. With the maturity of capitalism and the rise of monopoly and centralization in the economic field, the state machine in the political field is also increasingly strengthened and involved in all aspects of social life. "The country began to deal with the economic and social problems caused by economic growth in an attempt to alleviate the increasingly obvious social tension, urban problems and industrial maturity. The latter two issues require the state to carry out more welfare legislation and social reforms ... The government must fully cope with social unrest, poverty and urban expansion. " [6](p275-276) The above-mentioned Law on Urban Self-government Organs was passed by the parliament from top to bottom, and all towns followed it. Except for the towns explicitly listed in it, other towns can only apply for invoking this law, so its legislation is not mandatory, but local authorities are authorized to implement it themselves, and its implementation depends on each town. Therefore, some people call the second half of19th century the "gold" of British municipalities. [7](p205) But after all, it is a powerful intervention of the central legislation in urban affairs. Of course, the idea of laissez-faire is still deeply rooted, so there are still some criticisms about government intervention. For example, when 1848 promulgated the Public Health Regulations, the editor of The Economist Weekly (May 1848, 13) complained: "Suffering and disasters are natural warnings and cannot be exempted; Before well-intentioned people understand their purpose and ending, they can't wait to try to drive them out of the world through legislation. The result is often that there are fewer advantages and more disadvantages. " [8](p667)

The reform of local government in Britain began with the reform of 1835, and a new municipal government was established on the basis of democracy, so as to adapt to the changing urban society and gradually develop into a modern urban government, fulfill its expanding social management responsibilities and deal with various problems in urban society. The more the town develops, the bigger the city is, the heavier the task of urban public facilities construction and management, and the larger the urban government institutions: from municipal public facilities to streets, water supply, garbage, transportation, and then to spiritual infrastructure, such as parks, green spaces, school construction, libraries, museums. Because it is based on the unity of rights (votes) and obligations (taxes) from the beginning, it focuses on its duty-serving the urban masses, rather than its official position and personal gains and losses, so this new municipal official is no longer an old-fashioned urban oligarch, but a modern "civil servant." By the end of 19, the construction of local government in British cities was basically completed.

three

The reform of British urban government is not only a tangible reform of the superstructure of the municipal government, but also an invisible democratization process at the local level, which has brought democracy, freedom and openness to the city and the whole society.

First of all, the municipal government reform, together with the three parliamentary reforms, constitutes an important part of the process of British political democratization in the19th century. /kloc-since the 0/8th century, with the process of industrialization and urbanization, the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie has made great economic achievements and its economic strength has been unprecedentedly improved. For example, craftsmen in Birmingham, a huge industrial city in the north, cotton giants in Manchester, and the "merchant prince" in the port city of Liverpool are all rich. However, because they are non-Christians, they have no right to speak in political life, and the regime is manipulated in the hands of the land aristocracy, which makes the political superstructure and economic base of the country seriously unbalanced. Therefore, gaining political rights became the main historical mission of the British bourgeoisie in the19th century. Since the 1688 glorious revolution in British political life, the gradual tradition and the pressure of radical movements have forced the ruling class to retreat gradually, breaking the power monopoly of the land aristocracy, getting rid of the control of the municipal oligarchs on towns and establishing a more democratic and open political rule. Therefore, democracy and reform became the main chapters of British political development in the19th century, and the liberal ideology advocated by Mill was born. In his view, the so-called political freedom is to freely discuss public issues and let the public participate in political decision-making. [9](p780) The lower classes put forward the People's Charter, demanding universal suffrage, and taking winning votes and participating in politics as a means to improve their status.

In this way, from the parliamentary reform of 1832 to the reform of 1884, the number of voters kept increasing, and not only the middle class but also the working people began to share political rights. Although this is not true universal suffrage, the general trend of democratization is undeniable. The bourgeoisie began to control parliament. According to statistics, in 1865, there were 436 representatives of land interests and 545 representatives of industry, commerce and finance, accounting for more than half; At 1900, the latter increased to 77%[9](p350). In the central organs, through the reform of the civil service system and the reform in the army, the middle class replaced the hereditary corrupt bureaucrats. In local political life, the municipal reform law of 1835 enabled those economic powerhouses to gain corresponding leadership positions in the field of towns, especially in newly-developed industrial towns, and the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie quickly seized power. For example, in the city councils of rochdale and salford, from 1856 to 1890, the proportion of the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie is from. More than 60% of the mayors of Blackburn and Bolton come from the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie [10]. /kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, the contradiction between the superstructure and the economic base in the political life of British central and local governments was gradually changed through reform and adjustment, which finally adapted to the development and changes of the economic base and embodied certain democratic principles. 1869 the municipal election law gives all taxpayers with one-year residency the right to vote. Most importantly, all unmarried women enjoy the same rights. [1 1](p75) Since 1894, both male and female taxpayers have the right to vote in counties and administrative parishes, which has widened the gap between women's voting rights. No wonder Cobden said that "the municipal reform law is the most democratic measure in our law" [165438].

Some historians believe that the taxpayer qualification stipulated in 1835 Law on Urban Self-government actually deprived most residents of British cities of their right to vote at that time, and the number of urban taxpayers was even far less than the number of voters in 1832 Law on Parliamentary Reform, so it could not explain its democracy. [1] (p15-16) It has also been emphasized that, like the reform bill of 1832, it is a product of partisan struggle and a reflection of the political struggle between the two parties at the local level. Whigs crowd out the Tories at the local level, which is far from democracy. However, we believe that although there may not be many municipal voters in 1835 in terms of the number of voters, the key to the problem lies not in these figures, but in its basic principles. It replaces the property qualification in the parliamentary election with the taxpayer qualification, which embodies the dialectical unity relationship between tax payment obligation and voting right. It will take the property income as the voter qualification and change it to the taxpayer qualification that contributes to urban public utilities, which embodies the following points. Although the number of taxpayers in 1835 only accounts for 3% of that of adult men-10%, it did not reach 20% until 1869. [7](p203) However, just as the Magna Carta of13rd century was just a sealed compilation of documents in the early stage, its democracy and freedom became more and more obvious with the passage of time. 1835 the taxpayer's right to vote in municipal reform is precisely one of the cornerstones of modern British democratic political system. Different from the parliamentary reform of the central government, from 65438 to 60' s, women began to join the ranks of urban voters, and it was the first time to implement the right to vote as adult citizens in cities. By the end of 19, the right to vote has been extended to all citizens. Democratic elections give the municipal government great political legitimacy and authority, and municipal officials are responsible to voters rather than superiors, which reflects the spirit of modern democracy to some extent.

Secondly, the reform of urban government is instructive and epochal. It not only applies the principles of democracy and representation to all cities, but also extends to counties and other rural areas, thus providing a starting point with modern political spirit. With the process of urbanization in the19th century, life in rural areas is increasingly urbanized, so it is logical to carry out democratic reform. At that time, rural residents had accepted and enjoyed urban civilization, and at the central level, agricultural workers also obtained the right to vote in the parliament of 1884, so the democratic transformation of rural local governments was logical. This is the purpose of the local government bills of 1888 and 1894. Act 1888 provides for the establishment of county and county-level municipal governments, while Act 1894 provides for the establishment of local governments in metropolitan areas, rural areas and parishes, the establishment of elected councils in county and county-level cities, the establishment of district-level councils in districts and the establishment of parish councils in parishes; All adult men and women participate in local council elections and have the right to vote, so that the principles of democracy and openness can be implemented at the grassroots level. As a result, from the central government to local governments, from cities to rural areas, new government institutions were elected according to democratic principles.

Due to the anonymity, democracy, openness, freedom and other social attributes of cities, local democracy in Britain began in cities and was first tried out in cities with autonomous traditions. In cities, people's democratic will is the strongest, and the rapid development of urbanization makes the spread of democratic ideas extremely easy. The direction and practice of the reform of democratic representative government institutions in rural areas after cities not only conforms to the British tradition, but also responds to the radical movement and subsequent charter movement in Britain. Therefore, the city has become the cradle and birthplace of grassroots democracy.

Third, the 1835 municipal reform bill has the characteristics of openness, which reflects the trend of openness in administrative management. Although the reform law only involves 178 municipalities, its goal and object is to transform the municipal organizations of autonomous cities, but its significance is not limited to this, it also opens the door for the corresponding reform of non-autonomous cities. It is stipulated that non-autonomous cities can apply for citing the reform principle of 1835, which provides the possibility for comprehensive reform of non-autonomous town governments. Therefore, in the 20 years from 1835 to 1855, 22 towns (mostly emerging industrial towns) organized new municipal governments accordingly. By 1900, Britain had 3 13 new municipal governments. [1] (p1502151) It can be seen that the reform law of 1835 not only involves the 178 town it mentioned, but also prepares for the corresponding changes in other towns, especially since the industrial revolution.

The reform also reflects the openness of urban government management. The first is the openness of decision making. Take the town hall construction in the middle and lower reaches of the19th century as an example. At that time, the city hall was regarded as the landmark of the city, just as the church was the landmark of the medieval city. Whether the city hall is built or not, architectural style, building address, budget and bidding are all carried out in accordance with the principle of openness. People regard the city hall not only as a magnificent office building, but also as a place for grand receptions and concerts, so it objectively has other functions such as parliament hall, court and concert hall. More importantly, city hall buildings also reflect the growing civic pride of city people, and they often become a symbol of a city. Taxpayers use their own money to build exquisite and gorgeous town halls, and compare with each other in terms of building scale, decoration and layout, which reflects the desire of urban people to change the image of emerging industrial towns. Therefore, most city halls have large-scale organs to hold large-scale mass concerts, combining magnificent buildings with improving the public's artistic appreciation and aesthetic ability. Its spacious hall, huge scale and grouped organs show the public nature of the city hall. Obviously, such a town hall is not purely a government office of the upper class, and music no longer reflects the status of the upper class, but a tool for the masses to improve their own realm. In order to make the new town hall truly become a landmark building of the city, Halifax decided when it established the municipal government in 1848 that the town hall should become the embodiment of urban life and spirit, located in the center of the city, built on the commanding heights, with striking towers and huge bell towers. [4](p2 1 1). The inauguration of the city hall is often a typical occasion to fully express the pride of citizens. The attendance of members of the royal family, grand parties and grand celebrations have become common scenes. When the Halifax City Hall was completed and cut the ribbon, the Prince of Wales came, with 66,000 spectators brought by the 174 train. The city organized 65,438+0,000 Sunday school students to perform programs and a large band of 500 people to play music. [7](p 2 15) 1858 On September 7th, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was completed in Leeds City Hall, and at the same time, product fairs and large-scale concerts were held. The arrival of the Queen and his wife pushed the celebration to a climax. The city is full of colorful flags, banners and flowers, and people are beaming. Just as Crystal Palace Expo became the symbol of 185 1, Leeds City Hall became the symbol of 1858. [14] (p1742176) It embodies the pride of the civic era, shows the public spirit and the openness of urban life, and shows the vitality and heroism of a free municipal government. Today, we can still appreciate the elegance of the British election counting office19th century city hall building. The town hall built in the middle of19th century has also become a fortress in the struggle against rural real estate. [12] (p22) If country castles were once the power of agricultural Britain, today, the city hall has become a symbol of the times to a great extent. Secondly, citizens are allowed to participate in the meetings of the city Council, which reflects the public's participation in the modern political process. Finally, the municipal government funds to implement the principle of openness. Regularly publish accounts and annual budgets, audit accounts, and review local government expenditures. Auditors are elected by citizens, and the town's financial personnel are ordered to summarize the accounts, and their backups are publicly reviewed by taxpayers. It can be seen that the reform of urban government in the19th century has enhanced the transparency of urban administrative decision-making and daily work.

To sum up, popular democracy in Britain was first developed and popularized in cities in the19th century. Cities are the cradle and birthplace of popular democracy. Determining the right to vote by taxpayer qualification embodies the democratic idea of the unity of rights and obligations, and abandons the property qualification conditions in parliamentary elections. This is an important step towards modern democracy. Although it is not universal suffrage in the modern sense, it is historical progress after all. In a sense, the city is an important carrier of modern civilization, and its existing anonymity and openness are hotbeds of grassroots democracy. The British national tradition of empirical rationality and the behavioral skills of advancing in exploration have opened up a realistic road for the development of British mass democracy.

On universal suffrage

/kloc-In the mid-9th century, there was a constitutional movement in Britain, which advocated that men, regardless of race or class, had the right to participate in political elections. /kloc-Liberals and social Democrats in the democratic movement in the 0/9th century, especially those in northern Europe, used the slogan "equality * * * has the right to vote". The universal suffrage movement includes social, economic and political movements, with the goal of extending the right to vote to all races. However, women's universal suffrage or voting rights, voting rights, etc. were not valued until the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. The earliest universal suffrage movement took place at the beginning of19th century, with the focus on lowering the property conditions required for elections.

Many societies initially had racial requirements for the right to vote. For example, non-whites could not vote in apartheid South Africa, which ended after the multi-party election of 1994. Before the civil rights movement, blacks in the southern United States only had theoretical voting rights, but there were many means to prevent them from achieving universal suffrage. The Ku Klux Klan was founded after the American Civil War, mainly to demand that blacks be forced to stop voting.

Some universal suffrage systems actually exclude some people from voting. For example, people who refuse to recognize prisoners' right to vote, mental patients. Almost all judicial systems deny non-citizen residents and minor citizens the right to vote.

Judging from the history of universal suffrage, although there are more or less institutional problems, artificial shady and corruption in various places, universal suffrage is still the most respectful and fair method for most people, a symbol of civilization and a development trend of all countries in the world.

Universal suffrage is only a progressive phenomenon in the process of democratization. Broadness does not explain the degree of democratization.