Abstract: As an inclusive theory of democracy in the West, consensus democracy attempts to surpass competitive majoritarian democracy. It advocates people's moderate shift from selfinterest to the common good in terms of fundamental assumptions, emphasizes the transformation of peoples dominant position from form to substance in political participation, and proposes a transition from being marginal to dominant in political institutional arrangements, which is actually a regression attempt to classical democracy. Although consensus democracy breaks the shackles of pragmatic thinking on the imagination of democracy, which is the result of the negation of the democratic ideal of the rule of people, and constitutes the spiral development of Western theories of democracy, it fails to transcend the limits of liberal democracy.

Key words: consensus democracy, majoritarian democracy, the rule of people, regression attempts

摘要： 共识民主作为包容性的西方民主理论，试图超越竞争性的多数民主。共识民主在根本假设上倡导人们从私利到共同善的转向，在政治参与上强调人民主体地位从形式到实质的转变，在政制安排上主张由边缘到主导的过渡，实为对古典民主的一种回归性尝试。虽然共识民主打破了实用主义思维对民主想象的束缚，是对人民统治的民主理想否定之否定的结果，构成了西方民主理论的螺旋式发展，但它依然未能逾越自由主义民主的藩篱。

关键词: 共识民主, 多数民主, 人民统治, 回归性尝试