governance, in the context of transitional constitutionalism government reform is
significant as a measure to build capacity and cultivate trust.
In Taiwan, while there had been plans for government reform, the actual
undertaking of reform did not occur until the 2000 s.^64 The KMT government
had proposed government reform in order to resolve governance problems in
different periods. After World Warii, government reforms were stipulated upon
the KMT’s retreat to Taiwan in order to confront the crisis of civil war and to
alleviate the crisis of legitimacy of the government. In the 1990 s, several proposals
for revising the organization of central government were made by the KMT
government under the pressure of the opposition party. Yet all these proposals
remained merely as policy and were never realized. It was not until after the first
regime change in 2000 , as the long-term opposition DPP came to power, that a
well-designed agenda of government reform could be proposed and entered the
stage of legislation. However, tensions and distrust under the divided government
resulted in insurmountable obstacles that caused the DPP administration’s agenda
of government reform to fail. In the eight years of DPP rule, as a result of lacking
support in the Legislative Yuan, the success of government reform proposals was
limited. After the second party turnover in 2008 , as the KMT controlled both the
executive and legislative branches, comprehensive government reform was able to
bear fruit.
The passage of the Freedom of Government Information Law is another signifi-
cant development that deserves attention. The freedom of public information, or
the right of access to information, has been comprehensively recognized by the
international community. In the era of globalization, as both time and space shrink
to an unprecedented extent, information becomes the pivotal foundation of man-
agement and governance for agents on multiple levels. More and more treaties aim
to promote the importance of public information.^65 Besides, in domestic govern-
ance, the idea of open government, which holds that citizens have the right to
access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective
public oversight, is now the prevailing doctrine. There are now over eighty-five
countries worldwide that have implemented some form of such legislation.^66
(^64) For a more detailed description of the history and development of government reform in
Taiwan, see Guang-Xu Wang and Mei-Ciang Shih, “Dismantling the Government: the
reorganisation reform of Taiwan’s central government ( 1987 – 2008 )” ( 2011 ) 3 ( 3 )Journal of
Public Administration and Policy Research 52.
(^65) For example, the Aarhus Convention deals with the issues of access to information, public
participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters. See
Bende Toth, “Public participation and democracy in practice: Aarhus Convention prin-
ciples as democratic institution building in the developing world” ( 2010 ) 30 Journal of
Land, Resources and Environmental Law 295.
(^66) Concerning the theory, functions, and practice of the right to information around the
world, see Roy Peled and Yoram Rabin, “The constitutional rights to information” ( 2011 ) 42
Columbia Human Rights Law Review 357.