Supporters of different political parties show varying responses toward the democratic system depending on the outcome of elections. Professor Hsin-Hao Huang from the Department of Civic Education and Leadership at National Taiwan Normal University analyzed data from the Taiwan Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) conducted after the 2008, 2012, and 2016 presidential elections. His research examines how party alternation affects Taiwanese citizens' attitudes toward democracy and reveals the sources of “critical citizen” attitudes, covering tendencies toward criticism and election losers.
This study constructs types of democratic attitudes based on two dimensions: "satisfaction with democracy" and "support for democracy," categorized into the following four types:
☑️ Democratic Satisfied: Unconditionally support the democratic system and express satisfaction with the current democratic operation.
☑️ Democratic Critics: Support the democratic system in principle but are dissatisfied with the current state of democratic operations.
☑️ Democratic Compliant: Feel satisfied with the current operation of the system but lack absolute support for democracy.
☑️ Democratic Alienated: Lack absolute support for the democratic system and hold a negative view of the current state of democratic operations.
The study found that after two instances of party alternation in Taiwan, satisfaction with democracy and support for democracy continued to rise, suggesting that the regular operation of elections helps improve the public’s positive perception of the democratic system.
The study further observed that Taiwan’s critical citizens are characterized by higher levels of education and political knowledge, greater concern for elections, higher internal efficacy, and lower external efficacy. However, contrary to expectations, critical citizens were not concentrated among younger individuals; instead, older citizens were more likely to be critical citizens. This could be because older citizens, having experienced authoritarian political life and the democratization process, are more likely to embrace democracy unconditionally while also evaluating the system’s operation by stricter standards.
The study also found that election losers tend to become critical citizens. In 2008 and 2012, voters from the losing side were more likely to become democratic critics. However, in 2016, election losers, apart from becoming democratic critics, were also more inclined to adopt a negative view of the legitimacy of democracy, thus becoming democratic alienated.
Original links：Critical Citizens in Taiwan Revisited: 2008-2016
