國會議員之代表性與民主制度──兼論德國民主體制與我國改革之方向

Representativeness and Direct Democracy of Members of Congress-On the Direction of German Government and Taiwan Political Reforms

實踐民主政治之理想，主要經由間接民主與直接民主的方式，而在間接民主中，最重要的代議士角色，應受到重視與探究，故本文首先探討國會議員之代表性，以明瞭間接民主實施之情況，探討包括國會議員之自由代表性與平等性。在自由代表性方面，國會議員係法定全體人民之代表，亦須經由國會自律與政黨之制約，在此範圍本文均深入論述探討。現行世界民主政治之潮流，雖以間接民主為主，直接民主為輔，然均採間接民主與直接民主之互補關係，然而間接民主固然是政體的主軸，但僅僅以定期選舉來檢驗人民代表的行事，顯然不夠，直接民主在此時就能發揮舉足輕重的制衡力量。而公民投票係指賦予人民對於公共政策或政治決定能夠作成直接決定的直接民主的機制，其結果具有最高度的直接民主的合法性。有關國會議員代表性與直接民主之論述，其相關法理大多參考德國法制，實因德國政府體制卻有探討之價值，另政府體制之改革，有關國會與政府制度，在我國亦常受討論與重視，故在此針對德國政體與我國政改之方向，一併論述以供參考。亦即從現行體制與政治改革，回應或印證本文主題，並強化論述。

Ideal democratic politics is practiced either through indirect democracy or through direct democracy. In the indirect democracy, the role of the representatives should be emphasized and examined. Hence, this paper will first discuss the representativeness of the members of Congress to have a better understanding of the practice of indirect democracy and to discuss the equality and representativeness of the members of Congress. Regarding the free representativeness, the members of Congress are representative of all citizens by law and should follow the discipline of the Congress and the political parties. The current trend in the democratic politics is mainly based on the indirect democracy, and less on the direct democracy, though they are in complementary relationship. In the indirect democracy, it is obviously insufficient to examine the representatives via regular elections. At this time, the direct democracy will be able to play a significant role of checking and balancing. The referendum mechanism allows people to make direct decisions of public policies. The results have the highest degree of legitimacy in the direct democracy, which best practices the function of democratic ideals. Discussion on the representativeness of the members of Congress and the direct democracy refers to the German legal system. German government reforms concerning the Congress and government are often discussed and emphasized in Taiwan. Therefore, German government system and our political reforms are discussed together for further reference to respond to the current topic and to strength the arguments in this paper.