1. The "In" and "Out" of Constitutional Myths in a Young Democracyâ”From Indirect to Direct Election of the President in Taiwan.
- Author
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Liao Da-Chi, Lin Fu-ren, and Chang Huei-chi
- Subjects
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DEMOCRATIZATION , *POLITICAL science , *REPRESENTATIVE government ,TAIWANESE politics & government - Abstract
The paper attempts to determine what kind of constitutional rule would be preferred in a young democracy if an institutional opportunity for constitutional change were to occur. Since both democracy and constitutional rule are viewed as the most predominant values in modern times, this paper takes a mythical approach. This approach involves three theoretical threads for looking into the transfer between an old and a new constitutional myth. They are: the political elite interest calculation; the masses' comprehension of what democracy is, and the proximity of a given myth to democracy. The case studied is Taiwan's constitutional choice between a direct form of electing the president and a kind of indirect one during the period from 1990 to 1994. By applying the three theoretical threads, the paper first uncovers how the political leaders might have used both power-maximization and power-loss minimization logic to choose their side on the issue. However, their interest calculation cannot be done in a social vacuum. Especially in a young democracy, little formal precedence or experience can be cited as a source of legitimizing the democratic nature of a given institution. Thus, people's comprehension level of democracy at the moment may play a crucial role in defining whether a certain constitutional rule is democratic or not. Therefore, we took the public responses to these two options during that period into account.Survey results indeed showed that respondents more easily understood the direct form of electing the president and, therefore, supported it more than they did the indirect form. This social mood was quite influential in consolidating discrepant ideas between elites on the presidential election format issue and helping the direct form eventually win out. Last but not least, the paper also offers a discussion about the proximity of each option to democracy. The direct option, by all theoretical accounts, is more proximal to democracy than the indirect, though what it can really achieve is uncertain. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008