与十几年前不同 ,如今政治民主化研究的重点转向了市民社会研究 ,这是一个颇耐人寻味的现象。它一方面表明学界在经过反思后的冷静与成熟 ,民主由政治层面扩展到社会层面 ,与此相应的研究亦随之深入和更具基础性 ;但另一方面 ,改造社会却比改造政治体系更加困难 ,其可操作性和直接现实性进一步降低 (事实上没有一个国家是等社会完成了民主化之后再开始政治民主进程的 )。本文试图通过对市民社会形成的关键——以利益为纽带聚合起来的利益群体的分析 ,重新赋予社会层面的民主化以现实的政治含义 Unlike a decade ago, the focus of political democratization today turned to civil society research. This is an intriguing phenomenon. On the one hand, it shows that after the calm and maturity of the academia after reflection, the expansion of democracy from the political level to the social level has correspondingly been followed in depth and more fundamentally. On the other hand, reforming the society is more important than reforming the political system More difficult and further reducible in its operability and direct reality (in fact, no country starts its political democratization process until it has completed its democratization). This article tries to analyze the interest groups which are the key to the formation of civil society, which is brought together by the interests, and re-endow the democratization of the society with the realistic political meaning