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Breaking Authoritarian Bonds: The Political Origins of the Taiwan Administrative Procedure Act

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Abstract

Taiwan recently adopted a series of administrative reform laws designed to make the bureaucracy more transparent and allow public participation in regulatory policies. Because administrative reform limits the executive's power, it is clear why legislatures would favor strict administrative procedures. But it is less clear why presidents would support them. The passage of these laws begs the question why presidents support administrative procedural reforms designed to restrict their abilities to act freely. I argue that in Taiwan, President Lee Teng-hui's control of his party deteriorated as factional disputes within his own party increased over time. Lee ultimately concluded that the Kuomintang's political survival depended on major reforms. Consequently, the status quo-oriented bureaucracy—hitherto an important source of support for Lee and his key constituencies—became an impediment. Lee supported Taiwan's Administrative Procedure Act in order to reduce the bureaucracy's capacity to impede reform. More generally, I argue that administrative procedures designed to open up the bureaucracy to the public, including previously excluded groups, can serve politicians' goal of redirecting the bureaucracy. Archival data, secondary sources, and interviews with key presidential advisers, senior career bureaucrats, and politicians support my argument.

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Articles
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Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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References

Notes

Portions of this research were funded by the National Science Foundation and the UCLA International Studies and Overseas Program. I wish to thank the following individuals for their valuable comments and suggestions: Baum, Matthew, Baum, Richard, Bawn, Kathleen, Cox, Gary, DeShazo, J. R., Haggard, Stephan, Londregan, John, McCubbins, Mathew, Thies, Michael, and two anonymous referees. I am particularly grateful to Nathan Batto for his valuable insights into Taiwanese politics. I also wish to thank Tsai-wei Sun for research assistance and Chang, Carl Chiaohao, Lin, Jih-wen, Lin, Michael T. W., Tang, Dennis T. C., and Wu, Roy Hsiang-jung for facilitating my fieldwork.Google Scholar

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