- 期刊
新興民主國家之公民社會及參與民主：台灣與捷克之個案研究
Civil Society and Participatory Democracy in the New Democracies: A Comparison between Taiwan and Czech Republic
摘要
公民社會儼然成為後極權國家或後威權國家鞏固民主的最主要途徑，本文從公民參與的實證研究探討新興民主國家的公民社會與參與式民主之建構。近代西方公民社會的發展是建立在現代化的基礎上，外顯的指標包括政治與經濟的發展。本研究選取台灣（後威權國家）及捷克（後極權國家）做為二個新興民主國家的個案分析，結果發現台灣與捷克儘管在政治權利及公民自由、經濟發展與民主自我評價等指標皆高於其他大部份新興民主國家，然而其公民參與的重要組成成分，包括公民組織會員與公民行動等許多指標皆落後於其他新興民主國家。顯然，現代性並未有效提升台灣與捷克的公民參與。本文亦微觀比較台灣與捷克公民參與之情況，結果發現儘管二國在現代化指標高度發展的情形相仿，但公民參與的形態卻不盡相同，捷克民眾大多透過公民組織成員的身分參與公民行動，公民社團成為表達公共意見的重要管道。在台灣參與公民社團的人口比例不低於捷克，不過台灣的公民社團比較沒有承擔扮演組織公民活動的角色。另外，台灣與捷克在年齡或世代效應的變項上並不能充分解釋公民參與，然而教育與收入這二個變項仍是重要的。社經地位要素只能部份解釋公民行動的情形，而年齡、教育及收入等自變項與公民行動的相關性在台灣與捷克的情況是類似的。
並列摘要
This paper explores the construction of civil society and participatory democracy in the neo-democracies through the empirical research on civic participation. Obviously, civil society already becomes one of the most prominent approaches to consolidate democracy among the post totalitarian and post authoritarian countries. The development of modern western civil society is built up on the basis of modernization, whose manifest indicators include political and economical development. This research selects Taiwan (the post authoritarian country) and the Czech Republic (the post totalitarian/ communist country) as the case study of neo-democracies. The results present that although the level of political right, civil freedom, economical development and democracy self-evaluation is higher than most of the other neo-democracies, the key components of civil participation, including of membership of civic organization and civic actions are behind them. Modernity appears not to effectively promote civic participation in Taiwan and Czech Republic. This paper also makes a micro comparison of civil participation between Taiwan and Czech Republic. Although the similar situation of higher modernity exists in Taiwan and Czech Republic, the patterns of civil participation differ. Czech people get used to the civic actions via civic organizations, that is, civic associations are the chief channels to express public opinions. The participatory rate of civic organizations in Taiwan is not lower than in the Czech Republic, but civic organizations seem not to play the part of organizing civic actions in Taiwan. In addition, the variable of generation effect cannot sufficiently explain civil participation in both of Taiwan and Czech Republic; however, the variables of education and income are significant. The factors of social and economical status can partly explain the situation of civil participation in Taiwan and Czech Republic.