試析公民投票對政治與政黨體系之影響

An Explorary Analysis of Effects of Referendum on Political Systems and Party Systems

蔡佳泓(Chia-Hung Tsai)

《臺灣民主季刊》 1卷2期 (2004/06) Pp. 27-41

摘要

本文嘗試釐清公民投票在民主國家中扮演的角色，以及對於政治體系與政黨體系的可能影響。雖然公民投票可能會給政治及政黨體系帶來不確定性，但是分析過去美國及瑞士的公投經驗發現，公民投票影響政治體系的程度不大。而且實証資料也顯示，實行公民投票多年的瑞士人民反而對政治體系有較高的信任感。這個結果證實，公民投票有可能內化成政府及政黨體系的一部份，不見得會完全取代代議政治。而在台灣，公民投票可能成為促使政府回應民意的機制。

關鍵字

公民投票 ； 政黨體系 ； 社會分歧 ； 政治信任

並列摘要

It is an explorary analysis of the role that referendums play on the operations of democracies and the extent to which they affect political systems and party systems. Based on the examples of American and European referendums, it is found that the effect of referendums on party systems is very limited. The empirical data analysis of World Value Survey also suggests that people in Switzerland show strong confidence on their political system but not on their party systems, and that Americans who have only local-level referendums have moderate confidence on their political and party systems. In Taiwan, however, people trust parties instead of the government, which implies that the referendum may turn to be a new mechanism that urges the government to be more responsive.

並列關鍵字

referendums ； party system ； social cleavage ； political trust

參考文獻

Apter, David E.(1977).Introduction to Political Analysis.Cambridge, MA:Winthrop.

Bogdanor, Vernon(1981).The People and the Party System: the Referendum and Electoral Reform in British Politics.New York:Cambridge University Press.

Butler, David,Austin Ranney (eds.)(1994).Referendums around the World: the Growing Use of Direct Democracy.Washington, DC:AEI Press.

Campbell, Angus(1960).The American Voter.Chicago:University of Chicago Press.

Cronin, Thomas E.(1989).Direct Democracy: the Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall.Cambridge:Harvard University Press.