民主憲政的基礎在於地方自治，因為地方自治乃是國家的重要礎石，它是檢驗一個國家是否真正現代化的指標，中華民國自由地區幾十年來實施地方自治雖已具有相當規模與成果，惟因當前我國的地方制度法啟動不久，且因中央與地方財政、警政、人事等方面之權限尚須進一步的順應政治發展趨勢作更為妥善地加以釐清與劃分，與我國憲法地方自治精神有所差距，以致中央與地方之間自治事項與委辦事項難以釐清，諸如財政收支劃分、縣市警察首長派任、全民健保費用負擔等有關立法權、人事權、財政權之問題，皆因中央與地方權限區分及歸屬問題迭生爭議。本論文旨在結合憲法對中央與地方權限劃分之規範原則，提出歐美日等先進國家分權理論與實務觀念，配合當代比較政治研究之途徑，針對當前我國自由地區中央與地方分權問題加以探討，並針對問題之癥結點提出具體可行的解決之努力方向，從根本上化爭端於無形，落實地方自治，維護住民權益、鞏固與深化民主改革之成果，以臻臺灣二千三百萬同胞自由民主人權的幸福生活於長治久安之境。

A democratic constitutional government is based upon local self-government because local self-government is considered the cornerstone of a country as well as an indicator to test whether a country is really modernized. The Republic of China, an area of freedom, has carried out local self-government for decades and resulted in great success. Yet, Taiwan's local government system has just started; a gap still exists between the actual situation and the spirit of the Constitution that it is hard to identify central and local autonomous items and commissioned matters. Those relevant legislative powers, personnel rights, and financial rights as the division of revenue and expenditure, city and county police chief appointment, the burden of national health insurance costs and other issues have become controversial. This paper aims to combine the normative principles of the jurisdictional demarcation between centralization and decentralization by Constitution, bring up the concept and practice of decentralization from European countries and other developed countries, investigate into the problems with decentralization, seek for concrete and feasible solutions, and consolidate the democratic reforms for the purpose of providing Taiwan's 23 million people with a free stable democratic environment.