The historical institutionalism analysis of Taiwan’s administrative reform

Abstract

Government restructuring has been discussed extensively in Taiwan for more than three decades, and the first NPM-style administrative reform programme, which emphasizes ‘a leaner and businesslike government’, was launched in 1996. Since then, NPM has been the key guideline producing a strong path-dependence effect for subsequent administrative reform programmes in Taiwan. This article examines the trajectory of administrative reform in Taiwan from 1949 to 2010, the latter being the year when the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan was passed, which symbolically represents the end of the current phase of administrative reform. Similar to many Asian countries, exogenous and endogenous factors have induced efforts at administrative reform in Taiwan. Although it is argued that it is difficult to generate any common path of administrative reform among Asian countries, the analysis of the case in Taiwan may provide some observations for future discussions on this topic, such as evidence of political manipulation, the transformation of the role of the state, the desire for an indigenous reform strategy, and the demand to revitalize the civil service system. Points for practitioners 1. Administrative reform is a political process, and pubic servants have to deal with value conflicts carefully. 2. Professionalism and political neutrality are the two most important things in the administrative reform process. 3. Public servants can have a critical role in the administrative reform process when the critical juncture appears, but democratic values and public purposes should be the cornerstone for the bureaucrats in action.