ABSTRACT
Citizen participation is one of the core values of democracy. Democratization means an increase in citizen participation in public affairs. However, the issue of democratization is rarely studied in the field of public administration. In this article, we use the Taipei City Government (TCG) Citizen Complaints System to illustrate some tensions relating to citizen participation in a newly democratizing country. We interviewed the TCG officials to piece together the puzzle of how the citizen complaints system works. Furthermore, we conducted a survey on how each channel and media are used by citizens to file their complaints. Then, we focused on the development of the Taipei City Mayor’s email box to see how the tension between participation and cost is handled by utilizing newly emerging information technology. We then evaluate these developments in terms of publicity, accessibility, and accountability suggested by Seneviratne and Cracknell. [1] Accordingly, we propose suggestions for improvement from these three aspects for the TCG and other governments as well to establish a citizen complaints system that substantiates democracy.
