On Strategies of Administrative Divisions for New Taichung Municipality: Democratic Governance Perspective
Jian-Ming Huang*
Abstract
This paper contends that civil society is the foundation of democratic governance. Up to now, many problems have been found in democratic systems, so traditional democratic systems have to be reviewed through democratic perspective and be adjusted to solve some problems. Molding civil societies seems to be an essential approach to setting up the mechanism of democratic governance. By that way, people can get and utilize policy knowledge, thereby strengthening policy participations.
In order to reform intergovernmental span of the new Taichung city, efforts must be made to build balanced living area and set up the foundation which fits in with real regional development as instrument of realizing democratic governance. It is very important to draw up the plan of district divisions. However, there are many challenges in the process of adjusting district divisions, including citizens' lack of concern over the issue, group-thinking about district divisions, neglecting changes of real living areas and conflicts of interests between principals and agents. Hence, we have to figure out some strategies to deal with the situations. Some suggestions will be put forward, including strengthening civil servants' understanding of democratic governance values, improving citizens' policy participation by policy marketing, enlarging citizens' participation access and overcoming policy inertia. It is necessary to draw up the planning about districts divisions through multiple thinking. By that way, some difficulties hindering district divisions will be conquered and there will be a comprehensive program in the future.
Keywords: democratic governance, municipality under Executive Yuan, Taichung city, administrative division
* Associate Professor, Department of Public Affairs and Civic Education, National Changhua University of Education