The moment of succession is the midnight of the state, a period of maximum danger, the hour when power passes from incumbent to novice, when experience gives way to uncertainty. To preserve stability, traditional states used to insist on a speedy succession: “The king is dead; long live the king.” In modern democracies, speed has been sacrificed to legitimation by popular mandate. But in China today, speed has been sacrificed, but without legitimation, for there is no longer an accepted procedure by which an heir apparent is chosen.
權(quán)力交接時(shí)刻，對(duì)國家而言，就好像是午夜時(shí)分最危險(xiǎn)的時(shí)刻。在這一時(shí)刻，現(xiàn)任者讓位給繼任者，經(jīng)驗(yàn)被不確定感取代。為保持穩(wěn)定，舊時(shí)國家會(huì)強(qiáng)調(diào)迅速完成交接：“舊王已逝；新王萬歲！”在現(xiàn)代民主國家，為了獲得大眾授權(quán)的合法性，不得不減慢交接速度。然而在今日中國，交接速度雖然緩慢，合法性卻沒有增加，因?yàn)橹袊呀?jīng)沒有一套被廣泛接受的遴選繼任者的程序。