美國「分立政府」運作的爭議：以公共行政與政策為例

Controversies over the Consequences of Divided Government in American Politics: The Perspective of Public Administration and Policy

吳重禮(Chung-li Wu)

《歐美研究》 32卷2期 (2002/06) Pp. 271-316

摘要

近十年來，探討「分立政府」與「一致政府」相關議題已成為美國政治學界研究的主流之一。鑑於分立政府的研究具有重要理論意涵及實際政治參考價值，本文著重於公共行政與政策的面向，旨在檢視分立政府與一致政府運作的影響差異。其主要呈現在八個面向：其一，法案制定過程的順暢與否；其二，法案品質良窳的爭辯；其三，國防政策與外交政策的擬定；其四，不同政策法案之間的「延續性」爭議；其五，總體經濟表現的差異，以及財政赤字竄升的問題；其六，推動社會福利制度難易的爭議；其七，議會的監督權限，是否對於行政部門過度行使調查權；其八，議會對於行政部門進行「細部控制」，降低行政體系效率的問題。關於一致政府與分立政府之體制運作及其影響，儘管學者提出不同的評價與論述，但是迄今仍未發展出一套周全的學說，足以為多數學界所認同。換言之，相對於一致政府的運作，分立政府是否較易導致「政策滯塞」、「停頓」與「缺乏效率」，以及行政與立法部門之間的「僵局」，仍是眾說紛紜，莫衷一是。在結語中，本文認為分立政府應可成為研究公共行政與政策的另一領域，而且分立政府為值得學界繼續關注的重要課題。

關鍵字

分立政府 ； 政黨政治 ； 分裂投票 ； 政策制定 ； 政策執行

並列摘要

In the past decade, research on ＂divided government＂ and ＂unified government＂ has become one of the salient issues in American politics. In light of the important theoretical implications of this field, this study focuses on public administration and policy, examining the consequences for it of divided and unified government. The paper examines the following issues: 1) whether or not the process of lawmaking experiences gridlock; 2) arguments on the quality of legislation; 3) the conduct of defense and foreign policies under divided government; 4) debates about coherence across policies; 5) differences in macroeconomic performance and the problem of rising fiscal deficits; 6) arguments on the promotion of social welfare; 7) highly public investigations in which congressional committees ex-pose alleged misbehavior in the executive branch; and, 8) Congress's thrust toward ＂micromanaging＂ the executive branch, reducing the efficiency and effectiveness of the administration. Research on the consequences of divided government has produced some interesting findings and stimulated several lively controversies. In other words, the question - do policy gridlock, stalemate, deadlock, and inefficiency arise under divided government? - remains contentious. This study concludes that divided government is an important issue in the study of public administration and policy, and is deserving of further academic attention from a comparative perspective.

並列關鍵字

divided government ； party government ； split-ticket voting ； policy-making ； policy-implementation

參考文獻

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