地方治理與公私領域的重構：民主價值的增進或減損？

Local Governance and Reconstruction of the Public and Private Spheres: A Boon or Bane for Democratic Values?

本文旨在析論地方治理的趨勢下，不可避免會碰觸公私領域的重構問題，畢竟某些原屬私領域的組織與活動將會進入公共領域、且經由公部門的授權而取得某種程度的公共權力以執行業務或服務。本文主要聚焦於：這股結合非政府組織或準政府機構（QUANGOs）協力治理的趨勢，究竟對於民主價值有何影響？它會以專業與績效之名來侵蝕民主價值嗎？還是會擴張民主價值？為什麼？它之所以是個值得深究的問題，一如Karin Hansen所指出，是因為良好效能的治理是一回事，但民主的概念則是另外一回事，兩者不能混淆。
本文認為，這是個動態平衡的問題，也認為治理的趨勢代表著公共領域的擴大；然而，於此同時，這也就是為何課責（accountability）會成為地方治理研究首要關注焦點的原因。

The trend toward local governance inevitably touches upon the issue of reconstruction of the public and private spheres. Certain organizations and activities which originally belonged to the private sphere have entered the public domain and through authorization by the public sector have obtained some degree of public power to execute business and services. The primary focus of this article is the trend toward collaborative governance by non-governmental organizations and quasi-governmental organizations (QUANGOs). What is the impact of this trend on democratic values? Will professionalism and efficiency erode or expand democratic values? Why? These questions warrant in-depth research because, as Karin Hansen points out, efficient governance and the concept of democracy are different matters and can’t be confused with one another. This article argues that this is question of dynamic balance. On the one hand, trends in governance represent an expansion of the public sphere. On the other hand, the potential crisis of governance failure makes accountability the most important focus of research of local governance.