The management of citizen participation in Taiwan: A case study of taipei city government's citizen complaints system

International Journal of Public Administration

Volumn 26, Issue 5, 2003, Pages 525-547

  Chen, Don yun ^a   Huang, Tong yi ^a   Hsaio, Naiyi ^a  

^a SHIH HSIN UNIVERSITY   (Taiwan)

Author keywords

Citizen Complaints System; Participation; Responsiveness; Taipei City Government (TCG)

Indexed keywords

EID: 85050419141     PISSN: 01900692     EISSN: 15324265     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1081/PAD-120019234     Document Type: Article

References (56)

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2. Elkin, S. L., and Soltan, K. E., 1999. Citizen Competence and Democratic Institutions Edited by: Elkin, S. L., and Soltan, K. E., 1–20. Pennsylvania, USA: The Pennsylvania State University Press: University Park. One important practical aspect of participation, which will not be discussed in this paper, is the problem of citizen competence. For related works please check an edited volume by
3. Downs, A., 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy 207–278. New York, USA: Harper & Row. Costly participation to the individual citizen can be best described by Anthony Downs' famous theory of “rational ignorance.” It declares that the information cost to participate is high for any individual. As a result, the individual will weight the benefit and cost of information gathering while in public arena. Usually the individual will prefer to keep ignorant on public issues for financial reasons
4. Dahl, R. A., 1999. On Democracy 107New Haven, USA: Yale University Press. Table 1
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9. Simonsen, W., and Robbins, M. D., 2000. Citizen Participation in Resource Allocation 1–20. Boulder, USA: Westview Press. They have categorized the tension into three general parts: politics vs. administration; expertise vs. access and representation vs. participation
10. Tien, Hung-Mao and Yui-Sang Tsang, S., 1999. Democratization in Taiwan: Implications for China USA: Palgrave Macmillan.
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13. Benjamin, C., " Participation Revisited: A Managerial Perspective, Monographs No.6 from the Center for Democracy and Governance." US Agency for International Development, http://ipc.msi-inc.com/IPCdocs/Mn-6-ms.pdf(accessed January 2002)
14. BD, Bureau/Department; APPBD, Meeting with Bureau Chiefs/Deputy Director; BDBM, Bureau Chief/Deputy Directors e-mail box; TCME, Taipei City Mayor's e-mail box; CL, Classified Letters of the Mayor's Office; MM, Meeting with the Mayor; ISC, Integrated Services Center
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33. The effort to handle citizen complaints have an analogy with the so-called “customer relationship management”(CRM) which focuses on finding out more efficient way to manage customer complaints in the area of business administration. More and more public managers are utilized CRM to help them to deal with anxious citizens
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40. See The Washington Post, 8 October 1986, A18
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43. We select the TCG as our case because the TCG has been the pioneer on the citizen complaints procedure and management. In this study, we conducted interviews with fifteen officials of seven relevant TCG units in May 2001. We further conducted a survey of the 43 bureaus/ departments under the direct jurisdiction of the Mayor. All 43 surveyed agencies answered the questionnaire
44. Lin and Sheoi-po. 1981. The cognition, evaluation, and trust of complainants towards complaints system. Chinese Political Science Review, 9 (December): 297–351. (in Chinese) Similar studies by Du Bao-zhang and Guo Dong-yao also demonstrate that citizens are either ignorant of the complaints system or have negative attitudes toward the system
45. Du and Bao-zhang. " Study on Managing Peoples' Complaints." Research Report for Taiwan Provincial Government, 1986 (in Chinese)
46. Guo and Dong-yao. " Analysis on People's Complaint Cases." Research Report, Taiwan Provincial Government, 1979 (in Chinese)
47. “A-Bian” is the nickname of Mayor Chen, the current president of Taiwan. See the following section for details about the development of the “A-Bian Mailbox.
48. The Legislative Yuan is the National Parliament of Taiwan
49. Rather than dialing an eight-digit number, the special number is shortened to 4 digit for easy memorization. In pronunciation, it connotes lucky meaning for Mayor Ma that is “long live Ying-jiu.
50. Applicants are required to fill a form specifying the reason for meeting four weeks before the designated meeting date. The District office would fax the form to the related bureau/department that would review the form and reply to the office
51. BD, Bureau/Department; APPBD, Meeting with Bureau Chiefs/Deputy Director; BDBM, Bureau Chief/Deputy Directors e-mail box; TCME, Taipei City Mayor's e-mail box; CL, Classified Letters of the Mayor's Office; MM, Meeting with the Mayor; ISC, Integrated Services Center
52. The Guidelines is an administrative order issued by the TCG according to the Administrative Procedure Act of 1999
53. According to the Guidelines for Managing Citizen's complaints for TCG and Agencies under its jurisdiction, the citizen complaint cases handed by the mayor, vice mayor, bureau chief or deputy director, and the Commission of Research, Development, and Evaluation should be classified as under monitoring
54. The TCG is now designing a system to cope with this problem
55. BD, Bureau/Department; APPBD, Meeting with Bureau Chiefs/Deputy Director; BDBM, Bureau Chief/Deputy Directors e-mail box; TCME, Taipei City Mayor's e-mail box; CL, Classified Letters of the Mayor's Office; MM, Meeting with the Mayor; ISC, Integrated Services Center
56. Norris, P., 2001. Digital Divide? Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide New York, USA: Cambridge University Press.