Explain the main contents of the democratization process in Britain.

Abstract: With the profound changes in the social and economic fields, political democratization has gradually become the main theme of British history in the19th century. The process of democratization in Britain is not only reflected in the reform of parliament, but also in the reform of city government. The popular democracy in Britain19th century first developed in cities. This city is the cradle and birthplace of popular 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 autonomy in British society, local affairs in various places have always had a strong local and regional color. Therefore, it is not enough to study 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 conducted 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, public security and other management problems. /kloc-in the first half of the 0/9th century, from the Katu Street plot to the Waterloo incident, social unrest, unplanned urban development and construction, and narrow twists and turns in urban streets. Housing is overcrowded, and new big cities are full of row houses, duplex houses and back-to-back houses. The caves, porcelain areas and slums in Liverpool and Manchester are shocking, and the public facilities are almost zero, not to mention parks, green spaces, museums and art galleries, not to mention the most basic living facilities. 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, we should abide by the traditional "small government" and respect the tradition of local autonomy. /kloc-since the 0/8th century, the less the British government interferes in local affairs, the more it is considered to be in line with tradition. In the economic field, since the17th century revolution, the "laissez-faire" advocated by Adam Smith and others has taken the place of mercantilism and gained popular support. 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, divided into autonomous cities and towns without autonomy, with different governance methods.

One is a town that has no autonomy. They have no charter, so there is no autonomous city government. From the perspective of political governance, they are still under the rule of county magistrate and magistrate, and pay county salaries. [1] (P2) In other words, although they have developed into towns in material form, they still stay in the countryside in terms of governance structure and mental state.

The other is an autonomous city. In British history, autonomous cities have a long tradition. Many of them 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 municipality also has a city council composed of 12-24 people. Responsible for supervising urban 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 tycoons and regard municipal affairs as domestic affairs. As a result, the municipal authorities became tools in the hands of the upper class in 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 the increasingly complex urban affairs. This is completely contrary to the spirit of modern democracy. Although there are many effective municipal officials, such as the Liverpool municipal government, on the whole, the old-style urban self-government 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 and 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.

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 for solving special problems. They set up about 300 town improvement committees. There are many specialized organizations, among which the improvement committees in Birmingham and Manchester are successful. 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. At the beginning of the19th century, the committee gained new powers. It has the right to levy new taxes and borrow loans, and its economic strength is enhanced and its work is 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, in fact, improving the work of the Committee is a kind of ".

Secondly, the change of British economic base urgently needs the corresponding change in the field of political superstructure. /kloc-since the second half of the 0/8th century, the British economic life has changed greatly from a traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial society, which has made the economic strength of the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie grow rapidly./kloc-the acceleration of urbanization in the 0/9th century has made the bourgeoisie stronger. Some industrial cities in the north, such as Birmingham and Manchester, belong to 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 state of political incompetence.

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. The bourgeois radical movement began to surge from the second half of the18th century, but it did not develop into a French-style social revolution. But through the rational concessions of the ruling class, the middle class can share power and achieve coordination. 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 urban government reform in Britain in the19th century: central legislation and urban local legislation. At the central level, 1835 "Law on Urban Self-government Organs" came into effect, which is essentially the continuation and conclusion of 1832 parliamentary reform, and its basic principle is to reform the government of autonomous cities on the basis of democracy. The law stipulates: firstly, more than 200 outdated municipal self-government organizations are abolished and the old municipal officials are replaced by elected municipal governments. The municipal government consists of the city Council, the mayor and the city counselor's meeting. 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 throughout the country. Meeting of re-election of mayors and city councillors in the city Council; The term of office of the city councilor is three years, in which 1/3 is re-elected every year, the term of office of the counselor is six years, and the term of office of the mayor is every three years 1/2, and the mayor can be re-elected. Second, abolish the functions and powers of the municipal government and the 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. It should not be used for private interests or entertainment, thus increasing the finance and transparency of the municipal government and helping to reduce the occurrence of corruption. Fourth, the local government 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 oligarch and broke the administrative control of the town oligarch.

In autonomous cities, the municipal government formulates local laws and regulations within its authority, collects local taxes to balance revenue and expenditure, and is responsible for environmental construction. [3](p223) The power and functions of the newly established municipal government are expanding day by day, and the social service guarantee function has been strengthened. Theoretically, the functions of the original improvement committees have been transferred to the new municipal government, but in real 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 there were only a handful of institutions such as municipal government, parliament and counselor's committee in the 1930s, by the end of 19, new functions and institutions such as gas, tap water, electricity, streets, sewers, parks, sanitation, bathrooms, markets, libraries and museums had joined in, enriching the government system. 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. More competent for urban management. /kloc-In the 20th century, most municipal problems in Britain were solved by local legislation. Of course, because the management of the city is still in the exploratory stage, most of its legislation is aimed at urban problems and immediate response, and there is still a lack of overall planning.

From the perspective of urban governance, we divide the period from 1835 to 1900 into two stages. 18352 1870 is a decentralized governance stage. During this period, in view of the complexity of urban affairs and the particularity of local affairs, many specialized institutions were created. Highway Bureau established 1835, Health Bureau established 1848, Education Bureau established 1870. By the 1970s, there were more than 700 local bureaus and committees. But there are many shortcomings. It failed to change the situation of municipalities of different sizes, regional division and diversification of local management through central control. Therefore, most local governments at that time still had problems of corruption and inefficiency "[4] (P365). After 70' s, it was a stage of increasing concentration of power. 1978+087 1 year, the central local government departments were established, and unified planning began to guide the work of local governments. The tradition of local self-government in Britain has indeed been hit. 1872, in order to strengthen the guidance and supervision of the central government, the Ministry of the Interior was established, and the administrative organs of the central government were gradually enriched, and the process of unified coordination between the central government departments and local governments began, and a modern government structure was established.

Although the Local Government Law of 1888 solved the problem of county-level setting, and the Local Government Law of 1894 completed the reform of local governments except London, only the London Government Law of 1899 is the legal norm to truly solve the metropolis-London municipal government, and has conquered the last bastion of the British municipal government. It provides for the re-establishment of 28 metropolitan district councils and 1 City of London Company in London County established in 1888 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, the idea of monopoly and centralization in the economic field has risen, and the state machine in the political field has been strengthened day by day. Get 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 problems caused by industrial maturity. The latter two issues require the state to carry out more welfare legislation and social reforms ... The government must make every effort to deal 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. In addition to the towns clearly listed, other towns can only apply for citation, so their legislation is not mandatory. On the contrary, it authorizes local authorities to implement it according to their own judgment, and its implementation depends on each town. Therefore, some people call the second half of19th century the "golden age" of British municipalities. [7](p205) But after all, it has always been 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 (1848 May 13) complained: "Suffering and disasters are natural warnings and cannot be exempted; Before well-intentioned people realize their purpose and ending, they try to drive them out of the world by legislation, and 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 city develops, the larger the city scale, and the heavier the task of urban public facilities construction and management. The more urban government agencies expand: from municipal public facilities to streets, water supply, garbage, transportation, and then to the infrastructure of spiritual life, such as parks, green spaces, school construction, libraries and museums. Because it is based on the unity of rights (tickets) and obligations (taxes) from the beginning, it focuses on its duty-serving the urban public, rather than its official position and personal gains and losses, so this new.

three

The reform of British urban government is not only a tangible reform of urban government superstructure, 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. Its economic strength has never been so strong. For example, craftsmen in Birmingham, a huge industrial city in the north, cotton giants in Manchester and "merchant princes" in the port city of Liverpool are rich, but because they are not Christians, they have no right to speak in political life. Political power was manipulated in the hands of the land aristocracy, which made 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. Due to the gradual tradition and the pressure of radical movement formed in British political life since 1688 glorious revolution, the ruling class was forced 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 liberalism thought advocated by Mill was born. In his view, the so-called political freedom is to freely discuss public affairs and let the public participate in political decision-making. [9](p780) The lower classes put forward the People's Charter, demanding universal suffrage, the right to vote and the right to participate in political power.

In this way, from the parliamentary reform of 1832 to the reform of 1884, the number of voters has been increasing, and not only the middle class but also the working people have begun to share political rights. Although this is not true universal suffrage, the general trend of democratization is undeniable. According to statistics, the bourgeoisie has begun to occupy an advantage in the parliament. 1865, the number of voters in the parliament has increased. At 1900, the latter increased to 77%[9](p350). In the central office, the middle class replaced the hereditary corrupt bureaucrats through the reform of the civil service system and the army. In local political life, the municipal reform law of 1835 has enabled those economic powers to gain corresponding leadership positions in the urban areas, especially in the emerging industries. 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 rose from 52.5% to 80.35%. More than 60% of the mayors of Blackburn and Bolton are 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, and finally adapted to the development and changes of the economic base. It embodies some democratic principles. 1869 the municipal election law gives all taxpayers with one-year residence 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 opened the gap between female voting rights.

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 much less than that of voters in 1832 Law on Parliamentary Reform, so it could not explain its democracy. [ 1] (P 15-65438。 Like the reform bill of 1832, it is the product of partisan struggle, the local reflection of the political struggle between the two parties, the local exclusion of the Whigs from the Tories, and 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 their 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, and changes the voter qualification based on the amount of property income into the taxpayer qualification based on the contribution to urban public utilities, which reflects the historical progress. Although taxpayers accounted for only 3%- 10% of adult males in 1835, they did not account for 20% until 1869. [7] (P203) However, just as the Magna Carta of13rd century was just a sealed compilation of documents at the beginning, its democracy and freedom became more and more obvious as time went on, just like the qualification of taxpayers' voting rights in 1835 municipal reform, which is precisely one of the cornerstones of modern British democratic political system. Different from the parliamentary reform of the central government, women began to join the ranks of urban voters in the 1960s of 19, and were also the first city to implement the right to vote as adult citizens. By the end of 19, the right to vote has been extended to all citizens.

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 them to counties and other rural areas, thus providing a starting point with modern political spirit. With the advance of urbanization in the19th century, the life in the vast rural areas is increasingly urbanized, so it is logical to carry out democratic reforms. Because rural residents have accepted and enjoyed urban civilization at this time, and from the central level, agricultural workers have also obtained the right to vote in the parliament of 1884, so the democratic transformation of rural local governments is logical. The local government bills of 1888 and 1894 are aimed at this. 1888 provides for the establishment of county and county-level municipal governments. 188. 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, new government agencies were elected from central to local, from urban to rural areas according to democratic principles.

Due to the anonymity, democracy, openness and freedom 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 it extremely easy to spread democratic ideas. The direction and practice of the reform of democratic and representative government institutions in cities before rural areas not only conforms to the British tradition, but also responds to the radical movement and subsequent charter movement in Britain. Therefore,

Thirdly, 1835 municipal reform bill is characterized by openness, which reflects the trend of administrative openness. Although the reform law only involves 178 municipalities, its goal and object is to transform the municipal groups 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 188. This provides the possibility for the comprehensive reform of non-autonomous township governments. Therefore, in the 20 years from 1835 to 1855, 22 towns (mostly emerging industrial towns) organized new municipal governments accordingly. By 1900, there were 3 13 new municipal governments in Britain. [1] (p1502151) It can be seen that the reform law of 1835 not only involves the mentioned 178 town, but also aims to make corresponding changes for other towns.

The reform also reflects the openness of urban government administration. First, the openness of decision making. Take19th century town hall construction 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. The architecture, architectural style, building address, budget and bidding of the city hall are all carried out in accordance with the principle of openness. People not only think that the city hall is a magnificent office building. Moreover, it is regarded as a place for grand receptions and concerts, so the town hall objectively has other functions such as parliamentary hall, court and concert hall. More importantly, the city hall building also reflects the growing civic pride of urban people, who often become a symbol of a city. Taxpayers use their own money to build a beautiful and magnificent city hall, and compare with each other in terms of building scale, decoration and layout. It reflects the desire of urban residents 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 groups of organs show the public nature of the city hall. Obviously, such a town hall is not just a government office of the upper class. Music no longer reflects the status of the upper class, but a tool for the public 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 on 1848 that the town hall should become the embodiment of urban life and spirit, located in the center of the city, with a striking tower on the commanding heights. A huge bell tower. [4](p2 1 1)。 The completion and unveiling of the town hall is often a typical occasion to fully express citizens' pride. The presence of members of the royal family, grand gatherings and grand celebrations have become a common sight. 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+00,000 Sunday school students to perform programs, and a big band of 500 people played music. [7] (p265,438+05)1858 On September 7th, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was completed in Leeds City Hall, and at the same time, a product fair and a large concert were held. The arrival of the Queen and his wife pushed the celebration to a climax. Colorful flags are flying and banners are empty in the city. People are beaming. Just as Crystal Palace Expo became the symbol of 185 1, Leeds City Hall became the symbol of 1858. [14] (p1742176) embodies the pride of the civic era and shows the public spirit and the openness of urban life. In the counting office of the British general election, we can still appreciate the elegance of the19th century city hall building. Built in the middle of19th century, the city hall has also become a fortress in the struggle against rural real estate. [12](p22) If country castles were once the power of agricultural Britain, now, the city hall has become a symbol of the times to a great extent. Second, citizens can attend the meetings of the city council. It embodies the public participation in the modern political process. Finally, the principle of openness is implemented in the funds of the municipal government. Accounts and annual budgets are published regularly, accounts are audited, and local government expenditures are reviewed. 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 in the19th century was first developed and popularized in cities. Cities are the cradle and birthplace of popular democracy. Determining the right to vote by taxpayer qualification embodies the democratic concept of the unity of rights and obligations, and abandons the property qualification conditions in parliamentary elections, which is an important step towards modern democracy, although it is not universal suffrage in the modern sense. But after all, it is the progress of history. In a sense, the city is an important carrier of modern civilization, and its existing anonymity and openness are hotbeds of grassroots democracy. Britain's rich and rational national tradition and behavioral skills of advancing through exploration have opened up a realistic road for the development of British mass democracy.

On universal suffrage

/kloc-In the middle of the 0/9th century, there was a constitutional movement in Britain, which advocated that all men have the right to participate in political elections regardless of race or class. /kloc-Liberals and social Democrats of the democratic movement in the 0/9th century, especially in northern Europe, used the slogan "equality * * * has the right to vote". Universal suffrage movement includes social, economic and political movements. The goal is to extend the right to vote to all races. However, women's right to universal suffrage or to vote and stand for election, etc. It was not taken seriously until the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. The earliest universal suffrage movement took place in 19, with the focus on lowering the property conditions required for elections.

Many societies initially demanded the right to vote by race. For example, apartheid South Africa, where non-whites could not vote, 1994 ended after multi-party elections. 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 demanding that blacks be forced to stop voting.

Some universal suffrage systems actually exclude some people from voting. For example, they refuse to recognize prisoners' voting rights and 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.