地方政府如何回應民意？以2006-2007年為例

Abstract

民主的理念之一是政府應該不斷回應公民的偏好。過去台灣學界重視民主化、統獨、國家認同等議題，以及衍生的兩岸關係等議題，僅有少數研究注意到政府與民意之間的互動。本文分析台灣23個縣市政府的三個政策制定與民眾偏好之間的關係，以2006及2007年的預算資料以及民意調查資料爲例進行分析，探索地方政府回應民眾偏好的方式與程度。另外，本研究以兩個縣市政府官員的訪問來佐證量化資料分析。這個初探性研究顯示，民意對於地方環境保護政策具有影響，而總統選舉結果則對地方交通建設支出具有影響。除了透視地方政府回應民意的模式，本文的分析途徑提供一個混合質化與量化研究方法的例子。

Responsiveness is one of the ideal propositions of democracy. Regarding Taiwan`s political studies, scholars have long concentrated on democratization, the unification-independence issue, national identity, and cross-Strait relations. Only a few have paid attention to the relationship between public opinion and policy output. This article evaluates the responsiveness of Taiwan`s local governments by examining the relationship between public opinion and policy output across three policy domains between 2006 and 2007. In addition, to analyze opinion survey data and local governments` expense records, this research interviews officials of two local governments and councilors to support the empirical findings drawn from the quantitative analysis. Indeed, public opinion has a great impact on determining a local government`s expenditure on environmental policy, and the presidential election result has an effect on the expenditure on transportation policy. This research not only provides empirical evidence of responsiveness, but it also provides an example of a mixed research method.