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Title:: An Institutional Analysis on Changes ofCommunity-building Policy in Taiwan

Abstract:: In the 1990s, Taiwan authorities shifted their community-building policy from a top-down approach to a bottom-up one. A community-oriented institutional design was adopted; much emphasis was placed on the role played by the local government and community; and a mechanism of bottom-up application project was implemented. Reviewing their community-building practices, we find that the authorities’ “social transformation strategy” ran through the whole process. Before the civil society was well-developed, the bottom-up mode of community construction intended by communitarianism had to be aided by the top-down administrative intervention. This gave the community spirit some room to develop. In short, changes of community-building policy in Taiwan are characterized by the flexible enforcement of top-down policies and the employment of the ripple effect of leading models. Community spirit in Taiwan is profoundly influenced by its politico-social ecology, but their proactive policies in nurturing and guiding non-governmental organizations are enlightening to our policy-making.