自70年代末期，拉丁美洲和亞洲的許多威權國家陸續走上民主之路；臺灣是其中之 一。和這些新的民主國家相較，臺灣有一個顯著的不同。在這個「第三波」的民主化浪 潮中，幾乎所有的威權執政黨都在民主化之後失去政權；而臺灣的國民黨卻仍然在民主 化之後的幾次全國性的選舉中，都成功地保持了多數。這個「臺灣例外」的現象或許由 許多不同的因素所造成。本文試圖從臺灣社會分歧的角度去理解這個現象；本文所用的 資料主要是1991年國大代表選舉之後所收集的問卷調査資料。 本文的論點如下：㈠臺灣的幾個重要的社會分歧，形成了在野的民進黨和執政的國 民黨不同的社會基礎。民進黨選民明顯傾向於臺灣的國家認同、臺灣人的族群意識、和 民主的政治理念；國民黨的選民則明顯傾向於中國的國家認同、無臺灣族群意識、以及 威權的政治理念。這個現象淸楚地顯示了，基本政治問題未獲解決的發展中國家，反對 黨一般所代表的反體制力量。㈡反對黨所代表的這些分歧，並沒有普遍地存在於臺灣一 般民眾的信念中。這些分歧的政治動員力量有其限制。㈢對政黨競爭而言更重要的是， 這些不同的分歧相互之間的重疊性並不高，它們彼此互相橫切。因爲社會分歧的性質比 較是基本的價値信念，許多同意反對黨所代表的某種社會分歧的民眾，可能因爲反對其 他的分歧而不支持它。這更限制了反對黨的民眾支持。㈣國民黨在民主化過程中對民主 改革要求的調適，更鞏固了它在民主化之後的民眾支持。

By the late 1970’s, many authoritarian regimes in Latin America and South Asia had collapsed afid been replaced with political democracy. Taiwan also counts as one of those countries in this “thircTwave of democratization.” Still, there are ways in which Taiwan stands out as being quite special: while nearly other authoritarian ruling parties lost to the opposition in the free elections in the democratic transition, the ruling KMT in Taiwan won the national elections of 1989, 1991, and 1992. Why was the authoritarian ruling KMT party able to survive within this newly democratic political climate? What accounts for its electoral strength, or, perhaps, what accounts for the electoral weakness of the opposition? This paper examines the social bases of the ruling party and the opposition, using two sets of survey data collected in Taiwan in 1992 and 1993. It is found that the supporters of the two parties are separated from one another by three social cleavages: (1) Taiwanese vs. Chinese national identities, (2) democratic vs. authoritarian ideologies, and (3) Taiwanese ethnic consciousness vs. Chinese ethnic consciousness. It is also found that these three cleavages cross-cut one another. This cross-cutting partly explains the weakness of popular support for the opposition. Also, the accommodation of the ruling KMT with the demands for democratic reform contributed to the electoral support for the latter, as evidenced by the popular image of the KMT as a democratic reforming party.