臺灣與日本民眾的政治效能感分析：不同政黨執政時期之比較

An Analysis of the Political Efficacy between Taiwanese and Japanese: Comparison of Different Political Parties in Power

民眾政治效能感是民主國家體制運作正當性的關鍵源頭。日本與臺灣係東亞自由民主程度較高的國家，均經歷政黨輪替，而在政黨輪替帶來民主深化的同時，民眾政治效能感是否隨之提高？又哪些因素影響臺灣與日本民眾的政治效能感，是值得關注的議題。過去文獻發現，政治賦權可用來解釋政治效能感，認同執政黨的民眾通常政治效能感較高，故本研究基於政治賦權理論，探究政黨認同對政治效能感的影響，同時佐以其他可能因素，包括教育程度、性別及年齡以進行分析。
透過調查資料分析發現，日本民眾的政治效能感低於臺灣民眾，同時呈現下降曲線，可能原因在於民眾對執政者不滿；臺灣民眾的政治效能感則微幅上升，但未達統計上的顯著水準。換言之，臺灣與日本民眾的政治效能感並未隨民主深化而提升，對於兩國的民主品質是個警訊。
政黨認同的影響在兩國並不一致，臺灣資料顯示，認同執政陣營的民眾其政治效能感高於認同在野陣營者，符合政治賦權理論，但日本情況則相反，本研究認為可能原因是日本憲政體制為內閣制，在野黨對於政策制訂仍有一定影響力。在其他變數影響力方面，「年齡」一項值得注意；年輕族群的政治效能感較低，而臺灣與日本都將邁入高齡社會，當具有較高政治效能感的年長族群逐漸凋零之後，未來整體民眾的政治效能感將可能更為低落。

People’s sense of political efficacy is the key source of the legitimacy of the government in democratic countries. In East Asia, Japan and Taiwan are countries with a high degree of freedom and democracy. They have both experienced the party alternation. Does the political efficiency of the people increase simultaneously when party alternation brings about the deepening of democracy? What are the factors having impact on the sense of political efficacy of the Taiwanese and Japanese people is a topic worthy to study. From the finding of past literature, political empowerment can be used to explain the sense of political efficacy. The people who endorse the ruling party usually have a higher sense of political efficacy. Therefore, this paper will study the effect of party identification on political efficacy based on the theory of political empowerment, at the same time analyze other explanatory factors including education, gender and age.
Through analysis of survey data, it is found that the Japanese people’s political efficacy is lower than that of the Taiwanese people, and it is on a downwards trend. The possible reason is that the public is dissatisfied with the performance of ruling party. The political efficacy of the Taiwanese people has risen slightly, but it has not reached a statistically significant level. In other words, the political efficacy of the Taiwanese and Japanese people has not improved with the deepening of democracy, and it is a warning for the quality of democracy in the two countries.
The influence of party identification is inconsistent between Taiwan and Japan. The data of Taiwan shows that the people who support the ruling party have a higher sense of political efficacy than those who support the opposition camp. This conforms to the theory of political empowerment. However, the scenario in Japan is the opposite of Taiwan’s. This research believes the reason behind is due the fact that Japan’s constitutional system is a parliamentary system, and the opposition party still has a certain influence on the formulation of policies. In terms of the influence of other variables, the age group deserves attention. Younger generation tends to have a lower sense of political efficacy. With Taiwan and Japan now facing an aging society, the overall political efficacy of the public may be even lower in the future when the population of the older generation with higher political efficacy gradually decreases.