Direct Democracy's Indirect Effect on Legislative Representation in Taiwan

• In Event: Political Institution and Taiwan's Democracy

Abstract

This paper investigates the instrumental effects of national referendum on legislators’ behavior on a variety of policy issues. The process of direct democracy is not merely designed for citizens to make a collective decision, but it also provides a unique opportunity for legislative representatives to learn the up-to-date public opinion. To what extent, and in what ways, do legislators respond to this collective message? The 2018 Taiwanese referendum provides a unique opportunity to study this linkage between direct and representative democratic ideals. In this event, the voters were given a chance to reveal their position on several key issues, such as national identity, environment, gender equality, and food security. Since this nationwide referendum was held in the middle of a legislative term, incumbent legislators may learn about the opinion of their constituents on these issues and further update their representational behavior and strategies in the legislature. By employing difference-in-differences research design examining legislative records in pre- and post-referendum era, we explore the varying patterns of direct democracy’s effect on how legislator represent their voters.

Authors

• Jinhyeok Jang, National Sun Yat-sen University

• Nick Lin, Academia Sinica