黑不黑箱有關係：從課綱修訂到服貿協議、審視臺灣民主問題

“Black Box” Matters: A CriticalExamination of Taiwan’s Democracyfrom Amending High School CurriculumGuideline to Passing the Cross-StraitService Trade Agreement

本文從一次不尋常的課綱修改，以及高中職「公民與社會」科教師的抗議行動開始討論，試圖說明教師們為何兩次站上街頭，干冒違背教育上下階序的風險，宣稱要給教育部官員與社會大眾「上公民教育課」的背景，以及教師們所提出的「程序不正義」、「黑箱作業」的理由。且藉由民主政治的積極意涵、Barber的「厚實民主」（thickdemocracy）與「膚淺民主」（thin democracy）的區分，本文進而討論為什麼儘管政府一再否認，但幾乎都難逃各社會抗議群體有關「黑箱作業」的指控。而發生在「太陽花運動」的兩岸服務貿易協議爭議亦同。本文認為，有關是否黑箱作業的問題，在於我們對於民主的期望與理解。如果我們認為民主體制理應有積極的公民參與、資訊應公開對等、決策應包含多元意見以及利益衝突的群體，那麼「黑箱作業」問題確實嚴重。本文結語並指出，若要認真面對自由貿易浪潮、兩岸的複雜問題叢節與內部矛盾，臺社會別無選擇，只能更積極地去建構以追求公平正義為目的之「厚實民主」。

This article discusses the background which has prompted high school teachers of Civics and Society engage in public protests against an unusual amendment of the subjects’ curriculum guideline. It explains why the teachers took the risk of disobeying and offending their superiors by proclaiming to “educate” the officials of Ministry of Education and the general public in name of citizenship, for their wrongdoings related to “procedure injustice” and “black box” practice (under table practice). Borrowing the conceptualization of “thick” versus “thin” democracy proposed by B. Barber, this article provides an argument to the schism between elected government/councils and the wide range civil protests, in which the Sunflower Movement against the passing of the CSSTA in the Legislature Yuan is included. The debate has been about whether there are or are not “black box” practices when important decisions were made. The author suggests that the answer depends on our understanding and expectation of the quality of democracy. If we hold the belief that strong democracy should include active participation from learned citizens, sharing of sufficient information among all parties, and inclusive decision making process when there exist diverse groups of multiple values and conflicting interests, we will think “black box” operations are indeed critically prevailing in the current situation. In the end, the article calls for active participation in constructing thick democracy in Taiwan against inactive and minimalist “thin democracy”.