Thesis (Ph.D.)--Rice University, Houston, Texas, 2001. / Chair: James D. Faubion. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bryn Mawr college, 1924. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 87-88.

Village secretaries (VSs) are civil servants designated by the government to fulfill services at the basic-level administration unit- district office. As a bridge between the government and public, VSs assist village directors to set administrative affairs of their villages/neighborhoods into action. However, whether the administrative operation is successful or not has much to do with the achievements of VSs, because they contact the most frequently with the public as the executive staff at the front line. Along with the transition of social environment, the increased extent of urbanization and the advance of information technology, the role and function of village secretary should be reinforced simultaneously to meet actual demands. This study investigates the role recognition, role expectation and role fulfillment of village secretary and related problems confronted by VSs in actual situations. Methodologies utilized in this study include institution investigation, literature review, and profundity interview. Conclusions and recommendations drawn from this study based on the integrated pointview of theory and practical run are expected to be useful for strengthening the function of village secretary, improving the quality of civil services and reaching further toward the goal of government reform. This thesis is comprised of six chapters. Statements pertaining to research objective, research subject and problem, theoretical basis and literature review, and research design and methodology are presented in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 discusses the understanding of organizational position of village by investigating the institutional transition of village/neighborhood. Chapter 3 discusses the role consciousness of village secretary. Chapter 4 describes the role expectation and functional operation of village secretary in details. Chapter 5 discussed the role fulfillment of village secretary and related problems confronted by VSs in actual situations. The last chapter, Chapter 6, summarizes the research findings and recommendations learnt from this study. Main findings of this study are summarized as follows: 1. As a communication bridge between the government and public, VSs did a good job on fulfilling the duty of servicing the people. 2. Contents of the duty and in-charge affairs of village secretary are excessively many and messy. The related standard operating procedure is not well established and unsuitable to meet actual need. 3. To effectively integrate and utilize the non-governmental resources, the public is encouraged to actively involve in solving public affairs within one¡¦s village/neighborhood. 4. To upgrade to have the efficiency concept of e-government, VSs need to take in-service training courses for improving their ability to use computer and information technology. 5. The duty and in-charge affairs of both village director and village secretary are highly overlapped, thus resulting in a phenomenon that one specific task was undertaken by two discordant persons simultaneously. 6. Due to the low post grade and limited personnel quota, the promotion channel of VSs is really narrow, thereby depressing the working morale of VSs tremendously. Recommendations from this study are summarized as follows: 1. The work items of VSs need to be flexibly adjusted and simplified. Related work scope should be demarcated as clear as possible. 2. It is recommended to upgrade the post grade of village secretary for purposes of inspiring their working morale, letting them embody themselves and keeping them enjoy in job.

In the last century, European Union was established, East and West Germany were unified and governments of various countries are aggressively promoting for the merger of their administrative district, "merger" has become a global development method of enhancing competitive ability. Taiwan is made up of 319 villages, townships and cities. Through technology, information and democratic experiences, there are times of financial difficulties, unbalanced townships and cities, lame self-governing and territory separation. With the global trend of aging population, decreasing birth rate and decentralization, the merger of townships and cities possessed its own righteousness. This research is positioned as the pre-study for the merger of villages, townships and cities. The objectives are: 1. Using Penghu County as an example, there are in-depth interviews and discussion on possible geographic, social and political problems caused by the merger; 2. Foresee the advanced principle and possible ways out for establishing the merging system of the villages, townships and cities to reduce the resistance to the reformation. To achieve the above research objective, we have to in-depth understand about the subjective concept and related variables. In addition, literature and document with aiming at the domestic villages, townships and cities are mostly focused on philosophic theories and self-governing problems, and there are very few documents deeply mentioned about the practical questions for the merger of villages, townships and cities. This research uses important people such as Magistrate, Public Representative, Administrative Staff and Social Group Representative of Penghu County as the research objects. Adn, this study adopts the semi-structural in-depth interview method of qualitative research to study the merge questions. The main discoveries of this research are: 1. City economics scale exists and is very different from remote village and township scale, as well as exists the conflicting interests in efficiency and democratic values between city and remote village and township; 2. In Penghu County, there is a general top down pattern in administrative district merge order and policy drive structure; 3. In Penghu County, the corporation of removing the self-government is the best subsidiary measure to drive the merger of villages, townships and cities; 4. There are generation gaps, and township and city concept differences in the objection to the villages, townships and cities merge; 5. The heads to govern villages, townships and cities is a key factor to financial status. If the city economics scale is shaken, it is not so serious; 6. For domestic villages, townships and cities merge, subsidiary measures and administration used by Japan are studied for reference. Independent merging systems are not suitable for present use. The main suggestions of this research are: 1. Principle and scale size of the merger of villages, townships and cities are not the main goals. Function supplementary is more important. 2. Villages and townships on the offshore islands can request administrative support from the county or city governments to replace merging. 3. There are different villages, townships and cities merging conditions. The legal standard is not too simplified or suitable for use by only one system. 4. Public approval and participation are the driven force of prospect for constructing a city. In addition, promotion of diversified policies, opened and transparent information and establishment of mutual interactive platform are important points. 5. Along with the merger of villages, townships and cities, the level of village and neighborhood should be integrated and re-positioned.

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Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-106).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-132).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-197).

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-109).

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.