| Summary: | 博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 政治學研究所 === 102 === What forms of political behavior emerge in response to disappointment with the political environment as popular trust in institutions declines? This study answers this important question. Unlike previous studies that either adopted a structural, rational choice, or cultural approach for analysis that further resulted in different research outcomes, this study develops a common framework that incorporates these three approaches to capture the complex relationship between structure and individual action. This study adopts and revises the theoretical approach outlined in Hirschman’s (1970) Exit, Voice, and Loyalty for our theoretical framework. This study uses data from the third wave of the “Asian Barometer Survey” for empirical analysis. The results show that institutional trust has a clear influence on political responses. In liberal democracies, citizens with low levels of institutional trust tend towards political apathy. In electoral democracies, citizens with low institutional trust tend towards exercising their “voice.” This difference is largely because in liberal democracies, based on the premise that democracy is a universal value, democratic institutions have already, as far as possible, delivered civic rights and good governance. In this case, individuals who are still unsatisfied with how the system works tend to feel powerlessness as regards improving the system. Further, they believe that any effort they make will be in vain. On the one hand, individuals with low institutional trust do not have a better system from which to choose. On the other hand, since institutional trust is accumulated over a long period of time, bad experiences will lead to a lack of confidence in the returns from efforts to improve the current system. Therefore, citizens with low levels of institutional trust tend towards political apathy. In electoral democracies, most citizens with low levels of institutional trust believe the existing systems of democracy have many problems. At the same time, they generally prefer democracy. Therefore, when problems arise in the existing political system, they have a strong motivation to adopt positive and constructive behaviors to improve the system.
Theoretically, we propose four major points. The first point is that at the individual level, actions may be guided by goals arising from individual rational self-interest, support generated from emotional attachment, and cognition or beliefs produced in a particular context. The second point is from the perspective of an individual embedded in society, cultural norms, and environmental conditions affect the choice of action has been made. The third is in terms of Confucian culture, only patriarchal beliefs have a significant impact on political behavior, while beliefs in social harmony have no effect. However, patriarchal beliefs were only found to produce a lack of willingness to give up the existing political system in an electoral democracy to reflect that patronage relationships account for political attitudes and values for the majority of citizens in an electoral democracy. The fourth point is in structural terms, regarding the relationship between political opportunity structure and political behavior, the extent of civic rights conferred through democratic development determines the limits and incentives for behavioral choice.
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