本文試圖探討儒家信念與地方治理效能間的關係。根據相關的研究及文獻，本文提出的假設是：儒家信念與地方的民主化發展無直接關係，但也無傷；對地方的經濟發展應有正面效益，但其條件為「政治表現和諧論」所提醒：地方領導群體間或地方菁英與群眾間，對儒家信念或相關價值有相當的共識。本文所運用的資料主要為廖達琪和Eldersveld於2000-2001年主持完成的「臺灣第二波地方菁英調查研究」中，所訪談臺灣七縣市菁英的紀錄，另外輔以2001年「臺灣選舉與民主化調查」(TEDS)訪談群眾有關民主價值的部分資料。 所得結果為：七縣市依據儒家信念強度排序，確實顯示和地方政治民主化治理績效指標－社會團體成長率及地方議會內政黨結構變化率，沒有關係，但也不構成傷害；七縣市儒家信念強度和地方和諧度結合一起，則和地方經濟發展的指標－家庭平均每戶經常性收入成長率及平均失業率，有較明顯的關係。 綜合以上，儒家信念與地方治理效能，確實如假設預期，有政治上不妨害民主發展，經濟上，在領導契合地方價值的情境中，有助於發展的功效；但地方菁英秉持儒家信念發揮治理效能的具體作為，還有待進一步的研究及探索。

This study tries to explore the relationship between Confucianism and the effectireness of local governance. Two hypotheses are derived: from prior literature On the one hand, Confucianism should exercise no positive impact upon the development of local democracy, but do no harm to that either. On the other hand, it should be positively related to the development of local economy. This positive relationship, however, should be subjected to one condition, as suggested by ”congruence-consonance theory of political performance,” that local leaders’ Confucian belief or other relevant values are consonant among themselves, or congruent with that of their local mass. This study mainly utilizes survey data of Taiwanese local leaders provided by Eldersveld and Dachi Liao in Taiwan's seven counties and cities in 2001. It also uses some mass data from the project of Taiwan's Election and Democracy Survey (TEDS) done in 2001. The findings of this study are: A locality whose leaders hold relatively strong Confucian belief, generally has achieved more, in both the growth rate of its annual per household income and maintaining a low unemployment rate than that with relatively weak one does; but that has no obvious relationship with the growth rate of its civil associations and with the changing ratio of party composition in its council. However, the condition of value congruence-consonance among different elite groups or between elite and mass indeed is a crucial intervening variable between the strength of Confucian belief held by local leaders and the performance of local economy. In sum, the hypothesized relation between Confucian belief and local effectiveness has been primarily verified by this paper. As for the specific leadership style which may make local leaders who bear strong Confucian belief, effective in local governing still demands further research.