Browsing by Author "Tang, Ching-Ping"

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Democratization and the Commons: Politicalization and Institutional Adaptation of Irrigation Governance in Taiwan
(2013) Huang, Chien-Hsun; Tang, Ching-Ping; Chiu, Chung-Yuan
"Meaningful user participation is widely believed to be essential for successful governance of common pool resources. Very limited discussion, however, has ever covered how empowerment and greater stakeholder engagement might actually destabilize a swellfunctioning governance system. Since the indigenous governing systems have played a critical role in managing natural resources and many of them are encountering democratization that substantiates participation and power?sharing, how they might evolve to survive deserves more attention. The irrigation system in Taiwan is a perfect case to demonstrate the challenges of enhancing participation, the strategic responses of actors, and consequences of democratization on a self-governing system. Inheriting from Japanese colonial rule, the irrigation system has carried prominent features of public?private partnership. On the one hand the public authority assumed the duty of supplying hardware that requires much bigger economy of scale. On the other hand, local self-governing associations were organized to coordinate the demand side sophistically through network governance. While this well-cited legendary system demonstrates the possibility of public-private synergy, it has been troubled by such snags as rampant rent-seeking activities, patron-client networking, and populism that most third?wave democratization countries have experienced. By in-depth field study in rural Taiwan, this research reveals negative impacts of unleashed participation on the indigenous resources governing system in the course of democratization. In addition to challenging the conventional wisdom of participatory governance, this study also examines the factors that have contributed to successful institutional adaptation that can help improving the survival of many indigenous institutions that are suffering dramatic political transition."
Democratization and the Environment: Entrepreneurial Politics and Interest Representation in Taiwan
(1997) Tang, Shui-Yan; Tang, Ching-Ping
"Democratization in Taiwan has created both opportunities and obstacles for groups representing diffuse interests to influence environmental policy. On the one hand, electoral competition, together with political struggle for leadership succession in the ruling party, has led to increased influences of concentrated business interests in policy making. On the other hand, democratization has also enabled and encouraged groups representing environmental interests of the diffuse public to battle against concentrated business interests by bringing freedom of association and more open political processes to Taiwan. As illustrated by two case studies—the anti-golf movement and the Kuan-tu Nature Park—environmental groups are more likely to win if they can mobilize sufficient support from the general public and press their cause through political channels that are more open to the public's scrutiny. These groups are less effective when the public lacks information about the nature of the particular environmental problem, concentrated business groups wield greater influence through their close connections with politicians, and there is a lack of institutional channels to challenge government decisions. To further consolidate democracy in Taiwan, institutional channels need to be strengthened to encourage more entrepreneurial politics at various levels of the political system."
Negotiated Autonomy: Transforming Self-Governing Institutions for Local Common-Pool Resources in Two Tribal Villages in Taiwan
(2000) Tang, Ching-Ping; Tang, Shui-Yan
"The current literature on common-pool resources suggests that appropriators autonomy in determining access and harvesting rules is a pre-condition for successful local self-governance. Yet few studies have been done to examine how local communities that are faced with outside intrusion can regain such autonomy. This paper examines this issue by studying how two mountain tribal villages in Taiwan have attempted to rebuild their indigenous rules governing the use of their local stream fisheries. One village, Shan-Mei, has been more successful than another village, Li-Chia, in restoring its indigenous rules and fishery, because villagers in Shan-Mei were able to attain a negotiated autonomy by developing mutually beneficial relationships with external stakeholders."