The Study Of Cross-domain Governance Of The Tamsui River In Taiwan

The Tamsui River is a cross-domain river,whose governance power and management right belongs to different levels of Taiwan's government.However,its systematic deficiency has little influence on the effectiveness of governance.Why would the paradox happen?Based on the question,this study is trying to find out causes,which might effect the efficiency of governing of the Tamsui River.The reason why I choose this topic lies in my research interest in environmental protection and practical value.Firstly,it could offer new research perspectives and case supports for deliberative democracy,which is the popular research in China today.Secondly,studying its culture of governing and specific measures of the river,our policies and strategies of management can also be enlightened.This thesis,using the Tamsui River as a case study,assisting with empirical researches and in-depth interviews,is aimed at exploring the governance mechanism via multi-level governance.Those questions below need to be discussed:what are the difficulties and influence factors of governing the river?How to make up the system deficiency?What is the inner logical relationship within those factors?And whether the governance mechanism is applicable in other areas?Based on the questions upon,the following things are discovered after analyzing a large number of literatures and empirical studies:first and foremost,examining the governance history,a close relationship can be found between the Taiwan's democratic process and government behaviors as well as the concepts of governance.Before the days of Martial Law in 1987,the governance of the river,with a characteristic of single actor,belongs to the government administration period.However,after the Martial Law period,as a large number of relevant laws and regulations pop up,the governance enters into the institutionalized period.Since 2000,the Democratic Progressive Party has been endowed with power,so citizen participation is incorporated into the governance system,since then,the governance has moved into the multi-subjects participation period.Secondly,river governance could not accomplish overnight,and dilemma appears.Factors,which cause the dilemma are the decentralization of authority,restricted organization and coordination,which is engendered by discrepancy of resource,departmentalism,and professional division of labor,and disorganized relevant laws.In the third place,factors that influence the governance are the relevant policy,intergovernmental cooperation,and citizen participation.All of which are not isolated,but interacted.That is to say,the effectiveness is impossible to reach unless these factors contribute together.And the governing of the Tamsui River relays on vertical cooperation between the authorities and local governments,horizontal cooperation in Taipei City and other counties and also the network cooperation between the governments and their citizens.Last but not least,although the mechanism has some defects to be improved,the multi-level governance brings all the stakeholders into the governance system,which fully embodies the spirit of deliberative democracy.This governance mode,according with today's globalization and modernization,has its applicability when facing with cross-domain problems.