The Impact of Transforming Townships into Districts on Local Democracy Governance from the Perspectives of District Executives in Kaohsiung City

• Main Authors: Ming-Chuan Yu, 余明娟
• Other Authors: Yen-Wen Peng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/85771338538935925153

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 公共事務管理研究所 === 101 === There were four new special municipalities formed and an existing one expanded in December 2010 under the framework of municipal restructuring. In line with the restructuring, counties, townships and cities that had existed in these municipalities were restructured into districts, and district executives were appointed instead of elected from then on. This change created a new phase in Taiwan’s democracy and local autonomy. Appointed-district executives, however, lack the power of autonomy and resources as elected executives used to have,;and hence this change has been criticized by some citizens for hindering the progress of grassroots democracy. Many, on the other hand, support the system of appointed-district executives because they believe it will improve Taiwan’s election and faction culture as well as overall local governance efficiency. Using Kaohsiung City as an example, this study aims to explore the differences of local governance before and after restructuring. This study illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of the appointed-district executive system in terms of democratic governance response, administrative professional efficiency and accountability. It also discusses the difficulties of governance faced when changing from elected agencies to agencies sent by the municipal governments and relevant strategies for response. This study adopts a qualitative approach by conducting interviews with 13 former executives of cities, towns, counties as well as incumbent district executives who hold different views over municipality restructuring. Results show that most interviewees agree to the fact of improvement of malignant local political system after restructuring as well as the progressive development of administrative efficiency and professional governance. On the other hand, most interviewees also admit that the responsiveness of district offices are worse performed than previous offices (cities, towns, counties) due to the limits of their hierarchical nature, while voters are not able to seek accountability from them through elections. District governance is faced by many challenges because of system change. Some have improved following municipality restructuring, while it is still possible for the problem of accountability to emerge. From this study, it is shown that the main consideration for supporting appointed-grass root executive system resulted from problems caused by elections could be improved after restructuring.. Nevertheless, more resources and autonomiesshould be granted to district offices in an appropriate way, so that the performance of efficiency and democracy at the local level could be both improved in a post-election phase.