Local Factions, Party Competition, and Political Democratization in Taiwan

Abstract

當代的政治分析裏，地方派系政治並非臺灣地區的獨特現象。從民國三十五年起，即使處於威權黨國的統治時期，地方派系在臺灣地區的中央與地方政冶舞臺上，始終扮演著舉足輕重的角色。在不挑戰國民黨的政治主宰性與合法性之情形下，地方派系得以透過威權體制內特殊的恩寵系統，壟斷地方的政治與經濟特權；結果，國民黨與地方派系的依恃關係，阻礙了政黨競爭的制度化，以及進一步政治民主化的推進。藉著臺灣省議員選舉與臺灣省區域增額立法委員選舉的歷年資料之分析，本研究發現，在臺灣地區的中央與政治舞臺上，地方派系確實具有相當的重要性，而且國民黨與地方派系也長期維持著相互依存的關係。我們認為，地方派系影響力的持續與擴張，對於臺灣地區的政治民主化歷程，必然會產生負面的影響；因此，在未來邁向一個良好的民主政治發展之過程中，臺灣地區的國會選舉應考慮採用比例代表制的選舉制度。In contemporary political analysis, the politics of local factions is not a unique phenomenon for Taiwan. Under the authoritarian party-state, local factions have played significant roles in the arena of Taiwan`s national and local politics since 1946. Without challenging the Kuomintang`s political domination and legitimacy, local factions monopolize local political and economic privileges through a patronage system of the party-state. As a result, the patron-client relation of the Kuomintang and local factions hinders the institution-alization of party competition and in turn political democratization. Using the longitudinal data of the Elections of Taiwan Provincial Assemblymen and the Regional District Elections of Supplementary Legislators for Taiwan Province, this study confirms the importance of local factions and the interdependence of the Kuomintang and local factions in the national and local arena. This study also argues that the continuation and extension of local factions` influence will have negative impacts on Taiwan`s political democratization. Moving toward a better democracy in the future, Taiwan should introduce the proportional representation system to the elections of national legislative bodies.