Title of Thesis¡GThe Effect of Taiwan Local Factions on Local Election¡XA Case Study on Fongsan City in Kaohsiung County Department¡GIn-service Master Program, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies for Social Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University Professor¡GDr. Chang, Tao-Yi Graduate Student¡GWu, Chu-Hui Key words¡Glocal factions, election, change of ruling parties, political domain, patronage-clientelism, multiple-party trend Election is a symbol of universal value of democratization. The birth of local factions in Taiwan is closely related to election. Ever since the move to Taiwan, the government of National Party (Kuomintang), with the intention to solidify its political power, took the united and monopolized economic interests in different districts as the conditions to exchange for local powers or the devotion of political loyalty from the leaders of different ideas. For a long time these people with actual local power have been training a lot of ¡§pile legs¡¨ and loyal supporters. With the help of them, a gigantic social relationship network is established. After that, through elections, they enter the local governments of different townships in various counties and cities, or step on the stage of the parliament, thus forming influential political power. The basic function of local factions is exerted on election. In the process of election, local factions play a pushing role in the political participation, and monopolize the local political and social resources. Nevertheless, after local factions have gone through the change of ruling parties and the rearrangement of political domains in the year 2000, whether the patronage-clientelism has any subtle changes subsequently caused is worthy of making in-depth observation. Kaohsiung County is a place of origin for democratization of Taiwan, and Fongshan City is a major township with political and economic influences in Kaohsiung County. With the change of ruling parties and under the impacts of financial reforms, the thesis mainly investigates the past and current situations of local factions in Fongshan City, and expects to further clarify whether factions will develop towards the multiple-party trend.