Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T18:57:03.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

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

1. Interview with author, Taipei, Taiwan, July 15, 2000.Google Scholar

2. McNollgast, , “The Political Origins of the Administrative Procedure Act,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15, No. 1 1999): 180217.Google Scholar

3. Baum, Jeeyang Rhee, “Presidents Have Problems Too: The Logic of Intrabranch Delegation in East Asian Democracies,” British Journal of Political Science, forthcoming.Google Scholar

4. It may appear that my theory contains an implicit assumption that presidents choose APAs in part because they enfranchise “the people” and so are likely to be popular. However, this follows only if a president cares about the previously excluded interest groups that an APA enfranchises. Indeed, important support groups for a president may represent a fairly broad spectrum of voters. Consequently, an APA may be popular, even if a president's motivation is not to enhance his or her popularity by empowering the people.Google Scholar

5. McNollgast, , “Political Origins.Google Scholar

6. Banks, Jeffrey S., “Agency Budgets, Cost Information, and Auditing,” American Journal of Political Science 33 (1989): 670699.Google Scholar

7. McCubbins, Mathew and Schwartz, Thomas, “Congressional Oversight Overlooked: Police Patrols Versus Fire Alarms,” American Journal of Political Science 28 (1984): 167179; Lupia, Arthur and McCubbins, Mathew, “Learning from Oversight: Fire Alarms and Police Patrols Reconsidered,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 10 (1994): 96–125.Google Scholar

8. Weingast, Barry and Moran, Mark, “Bureaucratic Discretion or Congressional Control? Regulatory Policy by the Federal Trade Commission,” Journal of Political Economy 91 (1983): 765800.Google Scholar

9. Calvert, Randall, McCubbins, Mathew, and Weingast, Barry, “A Theory of Political Control and Agency Discretion,” American Journal of Political Science 33 (1989): 588611; Epstein, David and O'Halloran, Sharyn, Delegating Powers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999); Bawn, Kathleen, “Political Control Versus Expertise: Congressional Choices About Administrative Procedures,” American Political Science Review 89 (1995): 62–73. Bawn, Kathleen, “Choosing Strategies to Control the Bureaucracy: Statutory Constraints, Oversight, and the Committee System,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 13 (1997): 101–126.Google Scholar

10. McCubbins, Mathew, Noll, Roger, and Weingast, Barry, “Administrative Procedures as Instruments of Political Control,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 3 (1987): 243277.Google Scholar

11. See for example, Moe, Terry, “The Politicized Presidency.” In Chubb, John E. and Peterson, Paul E., eds., The New Direction in American Politics (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1985).Google Scholar

12. For a related study on how ministerial instability affects bureaucratic behavior in parliamentary delegation, see Huber, John D. and Lupia, Arthur, “Cabinet Instability and Delegation in Parliamentary Democracies,” American Journal of Political Science 45, No. 1 January 2001): 1832.Google Scholar

13. Partners in a coalition can either be from multiple parties or from factions within a single party.Google Scholar

14. McNollgast, , 1999.Google Scholar

15. Shugart, Matthew S. and Carey, John M., Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).Google Scholar

16. Thies, Michael F., “Keeping Tabs on Partners: The Logic of Delegation in Coalition Governments,” American Journal of Political Science 45, No. 3 July 2001): 580598.Google Scholar

17. The inability of presidents to fire bureaucrats might not stop them from reassigning unresponsive bureaucrats to outposts where they can do less harm. Yet, this tactic is of limited value to presidents, as it is impractical to reassign large numbers of bureaucrats (beyond political appointees).Google Scholar

18. In 1974, the Committee of Research, Development and Assessment of the Executive Yuan (branch) appointed Professor Lin Chi-Tung of National Taiwan University to chair a committee charged with conducting a comparative study of APAs in the United States, Japan (1964 draft), Germany (1966 draft), Austria, Italy (draft), and Spain (Huang, Kuo-Tsung, “Introduction of the APA,” Journal for the Lawyers [April 1999]: 4951). Although this academic study never materialized into law at the time, it became the theoretical foundation for TAPA.Google Scholar

19. Interview with author, Taipei, Taiwan, July 17, 2000.Google Scholar

20. McCubbins, Mathew, Noll, Roger, and Weingast, Barry, “Administrative Procedures as Instruments of Political Control,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 3 (1987): 259.Google Scholar

21. Cheng, Tun-jen and Haggard, Stephan, “Democracy and Deficits in Taiwan: The Politics of Fiscal Policy 1986–1996.” In Haggard, Stephan and McCubbins, Mathew D., eds., Presidents, Parliaments, and Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 200.Google Scholar

22. Hood, Steven J., The Kuomintang and the Democratization of Taiwan (Boulder: Westview Press, 1997), p. 108.Google Scholar

23. Ibid., emphasis added.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., p. 144; Cheng, and Haggard, , “Democracy and Deficits in Taiwan,” p. 200. The NP also supported strong business ties with mainland China in order to facilitate reunification and rejected a proindependence policy.Google Scholar

25. Cheng, and Haggard, , “Democracy and Deficits in Taiwan,” p. 201.Google Scholar

26. Wu, Yu-Shan, “Comparing Semi-Presidentialism in the ROC and the Russian Federation,” Chinese Political Science Review (December 1998): 123186.Google Scholar

27. The R.O.C. Election Study Center, National Chengchi University. Results of recent elections available at http://www2.nccu.edu.tw/%7Es00/eng/data/data02.htm.Google Scholar

28. Diamond, Larry, “The Anatomy of an Electoral Earthquake: How the KMT Lost and the DPP Won the 2000 Presidential Election.” In Alagappa, Muthiah, ed., Taiwan's Presidential Politics: Democratization and Cross-Strait Relations in the Twenty-first Century (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2001), p. 54.Google Scholar

29. “Soong Laments Downsizing,” Asia Intelligence Wire, September 2, 1998; Chu, Henry, “Taiwan Youth Drifting Toward Independence,” Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2000.Google Scholar

30. Roberts, Dexter, Young, Stuart, Clifford, Mark L., and Crock, Stan, “The Reformer in Charge,” Business Week, April 3, 2000.Google Scholar

31. Cheng, Tun-jen and Chu, Yung-han, “State-Business Relations in South Korea and Taiwan.” In Whitehead, Laurence, ed., Emerging Market Democracies: East Asia and Latin America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), p. 48.Google Scholar

32. Based on 1991–1996 survey results from Fu Hu and Yun-han Chu at National Taiwan University.Google Scholar

33. Clark, Cal, “Taiwan Elections,” Asia Society (March 2000), available at http:www.asiasociety.org/publications/taiwan_elections.html; Conachy, James, “Corruption and China Policy Dominate Taiwan Presidential Campaign,” World Socialist, January 14, 2000, available at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/jan2000/taiw-jl4.shtml; Liu, Shih-Chung, “The Real Potential for Political Decay,” Taipei Times, January 23, 2000, available at http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2000/01/23/story/0000021197; Wu, Sofia, “Taiwan Goes to Polls Amid Sense of Uncertainty,” Central News Agency, March 17, 2000. Not surprisingly, the other primary public concern registered in most opinion polls is the question of reunification with China.Google Scholar

34. On July 16, 1999, Soong, James, a rebel Nationalist ruling party leader, declared his candidacy for the 2000 presidential elections (“Rebel Leader Soong Announces Candidacy for 2000 Elections,” Dow Jones Newswires, July 16, 1999). Soong was expelled from the KMT in November 1999 (EIU Country Profile: Taiwan, 1999–2000, London, Economist Intelligence Unit, p. 7) and formed the People's First Party (PFP).Google Scholar

35. Clark, , “Taiwan Elections.Google Scholar

36. Roberts, et al., “The Reformer in Charge.Google Scholar

37. Chu, Henry, “New Era in Taiwan,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2000, p. 2.Google Scholar

38. Tougher Tests Face Chen Shui-bian After ‘Dream’ Win,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, March 18, 2000.Google Scholar

39. Hilfe Country Report, “Taiwan Politics,” Janet Matthews Information Services, January 20, 2000, p. 4.Google Scholar

40. Suh, Sangwon, Reyes, Alejandro, and Cheng, Allen T., “Seismic Changes,” Asiaweek, March 31, 2000.Google Scholar

41. Chin, Ko-lin, Heijin: Organized Crime, Business, and Politics in Taiwan (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2003), p. 5.Google Scholar

42. Roberts, et al., “The Reformer in Charge.Google Scholar

43. Ibid., p. 2.Google Scholar

44. Frassrand, Tony, “Newsroom Worldview,” CNN transcript no. 98042700V05, April 27, 1998.Google Scholar

45. Eyton, Laurence, “A Lesson in Democracy.” Asiaweek, December 12, 1997; Flanigan, James, “Asia's Improbable New Strongman,” Los Angeles Times, April 26, 1998; Ganz, Susanne, “Chen Shui-bian Announces Bid for Taiwan Presidency,” Kyodo News Service, Japan Economic Newswire, May 27, 1999.Google Scholar

46. Ganz, , “Chen Shui-bian Announces Bid.Google Scholar

47. From Poverty to Power: Chen's Rise to the Presidency,” Financial Times Information, November 9, 2000.Google Scholar

48. Hilfe Country Report, “Taiwan Politics.Google Scholar

49. Ironically, however, James Soong rose to become a formidable contender during the 2000 presidential election precisely because he was able to use Taiwan governorship, and the fiscal and financial resources under the control of his office, to nurture an extensive network with local factions, most of them key players in black-gold politics.Google Scholar

50. Taiwan's 50-Year Regime Senses Electoral Defeat,” Times (London), March 16, 2000.Google Scholar

51. Cheng, Allen T., “The Curse of ‘Black Gold’: Lee Teng-hui's Darker Legacy May Be a Political Culture Riddled with Corruption and Gangsters,” Asiaweek, March 17, 2000, available at http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0317/nat.4taiwan.kmt.html 26(10).Google Scholar

52. Lin Feng-Cheng Becomes KMT Secretary General,” quoted in Central News Agency, March 27, 2000.Google Scholar

53. Chin, Ko-lin, Heijin, pp. 78.Google Scholar

54. Ibid.Google Scholar

55. Chu, , “New Era in Taiwan.Google Scholar

56. Ibid.Google Scholar

57. Ibid.Google Scholar

58. Ibid.; Wu, Sofia, “Taiwan Goes to Polls Amid Sense of Uncertainty,” Central News Agency, March 17, 2000.Google Scholar

59. Wu, , “Taiwan Goes to Polls.Google Scholar

60. Roberts, et al., “The Reformer in Charge,” p. 5.Google Scholar

61. Ibid.Google Scholar

62. Counting the Cost of Corruption,” Matthews, Janet Information Services, April 1, 1998.Google Scholar

63. Asia Intelligence Wire, “Soong Laments Downsizing”; Hilfe Country Report, “Taiwan Politics,” Janet Matthews Information Services, July 17, 2000, available at http://www.agora.stm.it/elections/election/taiwan.htm; Suh, et al., “Seismic Changes.” Google Scholar

64. Asia Intelligence Wire, “Soong Laments Downsizing.Google Scholar

65. Flanigan, , “Asia's Improbable New Strongman,” p. 3.Google Scholar

66. I code as mainlanders nine cabinet ministers who claim they are from Fu-Chien province. While these individuals consider themselves to be mainlanders, other Taiwanese view them as natives of Taiwan. Since, however, the most pertinent issue for my purposes is self-identification, I have elected to classify these ministers according to their self-identification. A second test, recoding these individuals as native Taiwanese, had no material effect on the results.Google Scholar

67. Cheng, , “The Curse of ‘Black Gold”’; Chu, , “Taiwan Youth Drifting Toward Independence.” Google Scholar

68. Shi-yuan, Tsai, A Complete File of Black-Gold (Taipei: Tsai Shi-yuan Research Office in the Legislature, 1998), quoted in Chin, Ko-lin, Heijin, p. 5.Google Scholar

69. Roberts, et al., “The Reformer in Charge.Google Scholar

70. Quoted in ibid.Google Scholar

71. Chin, Ko-lin, Heijin, p. 128.Google Scholar

72. Cheng, , “The Curse of ‘Black Gold.”’ Google Scholar

73. Ibid.Google Scholar

74. Ibid.Google Scholar

75. Quoted in ibid.Google Scholar

76. August, Oliver, “Taiwan's 50-Year Regime Senses Electoral Defeat,” Times (London), March 16, 2000; Chu, , “Taiwan Youth Drifting Toward Independence”; Ganz, , “Chen Shui-bian Announces Bid for Taiwan Presidency”; Wu, , “Taiwan Goes to Polls”; “DPP Launches New Campaign TV Ad Focused on Young People,” Financial Times Information, February 10, 2000; Healy, Tim and Eyton, Laurence, “Old Party, New Face,” Asiaweek, December 18, 1998; Hilfe Country Report, “Taiwan Politics,” Janet Matthews Information Services, July 17, 2000, available at http://www.agora.stm.it/elections/election/taiwan.htm; Roberts, et al., “The Reformer in Charge.” Google Scholar

77. Quoted in Cheng, “The Curse of ‘Black Gold.”’ Google Scholar

78. Clark, , “Taiwan Elections.Google Scholar

79. Roberts, et al., “The Reformer in Charge.Google Scholar

80. Healy, and Eyton, , “Old Party, New Face,” p. 22.Google Scholar

81. Interview with author, Taipei, Taiwan, July 17, 2000.Google Scholar

82. Asia Intelligence Wire, “Soong Laments Downsizing.Google Scholar

83. DPP Launches New Campaign,” p. 2.Google Scholar

84. Hilfe Country Report, “Taiwan Politics.Google Scholar

85. Interviews conducted in Taipei, Taiwan, July 2000.Google Scholar

86. Interviews conducted in Taipei, Taiwan, July 2000.Google Scholar

87. The evidence in support of Table 5 is derived from both archival research and interviews conducted during fieldwork in Taipei, Taiwan, during summer 2000.Google Scholar

88. I consider Taiwan a president-parliamentary system after the 1997 constitutional amendments. A president-parliamentary system is defined as follows: (1) the president is popularly elected; (2) the president appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers; (3) cabinet ministers are subject to parliamentary confidence; and (4) the president has the power to dissolve parliament or legislative powers, or both (Shugart, and Carey, , “Presidents and Assemblies,” p. 24).Google Scholar

89. Baum, , “Presidents Have Problems Too.Google Scholar