Participa Participatory Democracy and the Disadvantaged Factors: The Taiwan and Czech Cases

Ter-Hsing Cheng

Resumen


Paper  focuses  on  civic  participation  and  its  disadvantaged  factors  in  civil  society  and  democratic
 life  in  new  democracies,  especially  after  long-term  deprivation  of  political  freedom.  I emphasize
 the  experiences  of  Central  and  Eastern  European  countries  or  the  post-communist  countries,  especially  the  Czech  case,  and  make  a comparison  with  Taiwan.  The  disadvantaged  factors  in  this  paper  at  least  involve  social  indifference,  corruption,  powerless  for  the  politics  and  no  trust  for  governments  and  the  general  society.  The  factors  of  development  in  politics  and  the  economy  do not  necessarily  guarantee  the  participation  in  civic  participation,  which  is  regarded  as  a prominent  component  of  civil  society  and  democracy.  There  are  still  many  other  factors  that  influence  the  consolidation  of  civil  society  and  democracy  in  the  new  democracies,  and  the  legacy  of  prior  regimes  is  one  of  the  most  decisive.  Due  to  the  degree  of  overall  political  and  social  control  during  the  period  of  authoritarian  or  communist  regimes,  people  removed  themselves  from  politics,  so  their  trust  in  politics  is  diminished.  When  confronting  the  bureaucratic  system,  people  become  powerless,  or  unwilling  to  concern  themselves  with  politics.  Therefore,  the  legacy  of  prior  regimes,  both  authoritarian
 and  communist,  consists  of  political  distrust,  a sense  of  powerlessness  and  political  indifference.  During  the  period  of  democratization,  corruption  is  also  a serious  problem,  and  corruption  often  brings  about  further  political  distrust  and  apathy  toward  politics.  Research  instruments  involve  international  surveys  including  ISSP  Citizenship  2004,  Taiwan  and  Czech  domestic  election  records  and  some  other  surveys  like  CVVM  in  the  Czech  Republic.
The  examination  of  the  Taiwan  and  Czech  cases  confirms  the  negative  correlation  between  the  effects  of  prior-regime  legacy  and  civic  participation.  Those  who  have  high  levels  of  political  distrust,  sense  of  powerlessness,  and  political  indifference  are  more  unwilling  to  participate  in  civic  associations  and  actions  to  express  social  and  political  concerns,  and  tend  to  shy  away  from  civic  participation.

Palabras clave


civil  society;  participatory  democracy;  social  distrust;  comparisons  between  Czech  Republic  and  Taiwan

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/sectio-2013-0002
Date of publication: 2013-04-19 00:00:00
Date of submission: 2015-07-19 00:13:47


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