The Perceived Quality of Democracy and Political Support in Taiwan

Abstract

Taiwan is often cited among the successful cases of democratization and democratic consolidation in Asia, enjoying a relatively high level of democracy in terms of various democratic indicators. However, it does not guarantee that Taiwan’s democracy achieves positive evaluations of its quality from citizens. Aimed at seeking a “good and sustainable democracy”, it is necessary to pay attention to the perception and evaluation of citizens on the quality of democracy, which can have an impact on their political support for democracy. In this sense, the focus of this chapter is to analyze the relationship between public perceptions of democratic quality and political support for democracy in Taiwan. Utilizing the 2018–2019 Taiwanese data from the fifth Asian Barometer Survey (ABS), this study examines how Taiwanese citizens perceive and evaluate the quality of Taiwan’s democracy in terms of three different aspects of democratic quality—procedures, effectiveness, and performance—and then it explores how the perception and evaluation of citizens on the quality of democracy affect their political support for the democratic system.