Abstract
摘要:民主化是貫穿近代人類政治發展經驗的核心概念,威權政體的轉型以及民主化的啟動、開展、轉折、停滯與倒退等變化,既普遍涵蓋西方國家過去兩百多年的政治變遷經驗,也涵蓋後殖民社會與開發中國家在二十世紀(特別在二次世界大戰之後)的政體轉型經驗,民主化與全球化更是導引二十一世紀東亞地區社會變遷的兩大歷史潮流。
東亞地區的威權政體轉型與民主化經驗雖然受到全球民主化浪潮的牽引,但也深受這個地區特殊的政經格局,社會結構以及文化因素的塑造,因此東亞經驗在民主研究中具有多重的獨特理論意義。東亞民主轉型經驗既是東亞學者與歐美學者在理論對話上的知識基礎,也可對當代的民主理論以及民主化研究提供非常突出的理論貢獻。然而到目前為止,東亞的民主發展經驗在全球民主研究領域內能見度相對較低,在經驗分析與理論觀點的呈現上也屬於最薄弱的一環,這個地區的政體轉型經驗潛在的理論價值尚未得到充分的提煉與闡揚,也並尚未得到國際學術界應有的重視,因此台灣學者在此一議題領域將有很大的發揮空間。同時,東亞地區內還沒有一個以研究東亞地區威權政體轉型與民主化經驗為焦點的常設性研究機構,教育部若能在此方興未艾而台灣學者又具有明顯國際競爭優
Abstract: This proposal seeks a five-year startup fund from the Ministry of Education for the establishment of an inter-university center dedicated to democratic studies. The proposed East Asian Center for Democratic Studies (EACDS) is situated to become the first inter-university center in the field of social sciences established and funded by the Ministry. In fulfilling the Ministry’s objective of promoting academic excellence, the mission of the center is to foster innovative academic research that develops a better theoretical grasp of democratization and the transition from authoritarianism, and to achieve better understanding of factors helping or hindering the advancement of democracy, both within East Asia and across wider regional spaces. It is also designed to promote intra-regional and inter-regional academic exchange, integrating cutting-edge scholarship concerned with the theory and practice of modern democracies and strategic approaches to facilitating democratic development and strengthening democratic governance within the region, and beyond.
The Center will serve as a leading center for analysis of the theory and practice of democratic development in the region. It will also serve as an intellectual hub, integrating the varied research activities and experiences of groups and institutions domestically and across the Asia-Pacific region. Beyond this, it will serve as a digital archive, collecting, organizing, and disseminating information and analysis produced by and about the wide range of groups and organizations that are working to improve our understanding of democratization and regime transition, and to foster democratic development in the region. As such, it fills an important institutional void in the region, providing an infrastructure for academic exchange and collaboration among regionally-based scholars, research teams and institutions, and integrating them with the globally leading research centers in the field of democratic studies.
Foundation
The center’s human core will consist of a collegium of several dozen scholars from Taiwan’s top research universities, Academia Sinica and international institutions who are actively engaged in research and educational activities related to the theme of regime transition, democratization and democratic politics. The center’s intellectual capital will be built upon a substantial base of already completed scholarly work by a number of already established inter-university research teams, and a well developed set of close ties with leading research institutes and organizations around the world. These resources will allow us to bring the cumulative experiences of Taiwan-based scholars in organizing regional and global collaborative research into focus through a series of pioneering efforts in the quest for a major regional initiative.
The major strength of the Center lies in its enormous research capacity, empowered by over twenty senior faculty and research fellows and an even larger
Keyword(s)
民主化
東亞地區
東亞經驗
Democratization
East-Asia area
East-Asia experience