Governing the Indigenous Communities: Nations and Citizenship in Chu-Ping Tribe

• Main Authors: Chiao-Wei, Hsiao, 蕭喬薇
• Other Authors: 黃長玲
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/kq6bx2

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 政治學研究所 === 102 === In the short history of Taiwan spanning several centuries, its indigenous people have become a victim as a result of modernization and the state’s (or nation’s) dominating rule. However, because of democratization in the 1990s, state-society relations had experienced drastic changes; indigenous people had evolved from being a “population” treated as resources by the state to “citizens” with the rights to participate in national sovereignty operations. The constitution further validated the minority rights of the indigenous people. Nevertheless, democracy seems only ensures their rights ostensibly: the confrontations between the indigenous community and the state have never ceased over recent years. Determining how minority groups “experience” the state as citizens of a democratic system thus becomes a fascinating topic. In this study, the citizens of the Chu-Ping Tribe, Ren-Ai Township, Nantou County were selected as the study subjects. The way state authority operates in the local society was studied by examining the indigenous community’s day-to-day life in which they confront the rule of the state. We found “village” and “community development association” as the basis of the administrative system, are served as institutional channels to allocate national resources to the local society. However, in reality, these villages and community associations only serve the only function of resource-supply; mechanisms allowing local people to participate in the decision-making of the state remain deficient. This signifies the lack of democratic representation and accountability in the existing local resource allocation mechanism, which accounting for the situation that the needs of the indigenous communities are constantly overlooked during the decision-making process. We further found that despite the lack of adequate mechanisms allowing people to participate in local governance being a common phenomenon, the negative effects that this has on indigenous community is even more overwhelming: it indicates that the their inferior position within the current structure has been amplified and that their cultural and living rights have been violated. The lack of a channel for the minority groups to participate in the decision-making process of the state is the primary reason contributing to the rise in indigenous people movements the demand for autonomy over recent years. The indigenous people face the same predicaments as the other major communities concerning inadequate national system. From a democratic governance perspective, this study not only provided a foundation facilitating the study of minority group governance, but it also revealed the lack of democratic representation and accountability in the existing local governance system. This revelation is one that may be used to improve Taiwan’s democratic governance.