Local Self-Government and the Realization of Democratic Life

            Although local self-government has become a common and general idea when it comes to the handling of local affairs; in fact, its progress has been a process full of hardship and twists. This point can be discussed from both conceptual and practical aspects. In concept, “local self-government” refers to a political system in which the people in a certain territory within a country, authorized by the government or under the country’s law and supervised by the government, found a body corporate comprised of local people and local funds to deal with local public affairs. However, while this representation is readily understandable, from the traditional Chinese perspective with its emphasis on feudal and autocratic power, the idea of local self-government is either unfamiliar or not regarded, or, the idea is merely deemed as being of a limited function for dealing with issues like farming and worship among villages and small communities.

In practice, after the establishment of the R.O.C, the government soon had to face a long-term civil war and the Second Sino-Japanese War; and, as a result, the government was unable to control the immediate situation in a situation of turmoil, and even less able to enforce local self-government. Although Sun Yat-sen had raised the idea of local self- government, and the government had legislated related laws, it was difficult to put it into practice amidst the chaotic political situation; and it was not until the government retreated to Taiwan that the idea of local self-government was realized.

          In spite of the “disadvantage” in culture, local self-government in Taiwan has developed well over the hundred years; it has not only enabled people in Taiwan to survive several periods of economic and political crisis, but has also created the most open and liberal environment in all of the Chinese-speaking world. Diverse opinions and ideas are allowed to be publicized; every political figure has to be examined by the people in election. As for “party alternation,” it has become the norm in local self-government. To sum up, at present, local self-government is not only a political system, but also a part of Taiwanese people’s lives. This article seeks, on the one hand, to provide a retrospective view of the history of local self-government in Taiwan, and, on the other, to analyze the inter-relation between “incidents,” “system” and “functioning.” The author intends to provide the readers with different perspectives to enable reflection on the past and to look forward to the future of the issues related to local self-government.