Democratic Values and Democratic Support in Rapidly Consolidated Democracies: The Case of Taiwan, 1995–2020

Abstract

Most of the extant research on the relationship between democratic values and democratic support examine the issue from the perspective of the evolution of democratic culture and institutional learning. These studies conclude that it takes time for people to understand the essence of democracy and to support democracy. We argue that a certain value orientation is crucial to democratic support at some stages of democratic transition. To empirically examine the association between the different dimensions of democratic values and democratic support, we analyzed survey data from 1995 to 2020 in Taiwan. Based on item response theory, we found that, first, throughout that 25-year period, we can distinguish three dimensions of democratic values in Taiwan; second, Taiwanese considered fundamental human rights to be an essential democratic value; and finally, the curvilinear relationship between democratic support and separation of powers implies that Taiwanese people emphasize electoral democracy more than horizontal accountability after democratization is complete.