对于宪政是什么这一问题 ,已有的两种回答方法———定义法或内容和要素归纳法 ,都无法给出满意的答案。对宪政的界定 ,既要让人们弄清楚宪政是什么 ,又要让人们明白宪政不是什么。用宪政的标准来界定宪政 ,为回答“什么是宪政”提供了第三条道路。宪政有其产生和运行的前提条件 ,有其存在的形式、内容和目的。其中 ,民主和法治是前提标准 ;有限政府和人权保障是目的标准 ;契约性是形式标准 ;自由是内容标准。以上诸项 ,是检验真假宪政的试金石 There are two answers to the question of what constitutional government is - the definition of law or the content and the elemental induction, and no satisfactory answers can be given. The definition of constitutional government not only requires people to make clear what is constitutional government, but also makes people understand that constitutional government is not what it is. Defining constitutional government with constitutional standards provides a third way of answering the question of what constitutes constitutional government. Constitutional government has its preconditions for its emergence and operation, its form, content and purpose of existence. Among them, democracy and the rule of law are the prerequisite standards; limited government and protection of human rights are the goal standards; contractuality is the formal standard; and freedom is the content standard. The above items are the touchstone for testing the true and false constitutional government