Abstract

This study aims to explore the evolving relationship between the state and civil society from the perspective of crisis and its impact on governance type. Theoretically, the study adopts a dichotomous concept of crisis as either dissensus or consensus, and develops a typology of four governance modes that capture the dynamics of state-society relationships to facilitate empirical analysis: adversarial, managerial, network and collaborative governance. Empirically, Taiwan, a nascent democracy and developmental state, and, specifically, the Ministry of Labor are chosen as an instrumental case to demonstrate the historical impact of crises on governance style and the general quality of democracy.

Key words: Dissensus crisis, consensus crisis, governance, state-society relations, democratization.