本文的主要目的在於去尋找影響台灣政黨競爭的最重要政治分歧。本文首先對於議題或價值觀要成為形塑政黨競爭的政治分歧，設定四個條件： 第一，大多數民眾認知到此一議題，能將自己放置在以此一議題為光譜的某一個位置土，同時亦認知到主要政黨在此議題上的位置。 第二，太多數民眾認知到各政黨在此議題上的立場有所不同，如果民眾認知到的各政黨在該議題的立場大致相同，則該議題不會構成政治分歧的焦點。 第三，大多數民眾之所以在某項議題上持有某個立場，是基於某種社會區隔或人口特截，也就是說大多數民眾思考到自己與所屬團體的連結關係典處境，進而持有某個立場，而非不加思索地隨意持有立場。 第四，大多數民眾會依政黨在此一議題上的位置，而決定是否認同或不認同，支持或不支持該政黨。 根據這四個條件，本文去尋找影響台灣政治的最重要分歧，並且分析這些分歧對於政黨競爭的影響。結果發現省籍差異、統獨議題的國家認同分歧、威權/民主政治價值觀的分歧，仍舊是影響二○○一年立委選舉結果的最重要政治分歧，而改革/安定議題仍舊是次要的政治分歧。至於社會福利議題、環保/經濟議題雖然展現出一些影響力，但是仍舊不十分凸顯，並未形成重要的政治分歧焦點。

The major purpose of this article is to search for the political cleav-Ages which shaping the party competition in Taiwan in the 2001 legisla-tive Yuan election. We establish four criteria for an issue to be political cleavage. First. most people perceive the issue and are able to put themselves and the major parties on the continuum based on the issue. Second. most people perceive that major parties take different posi-tions on the issue. If most parties take the same position on the issue. the issue cannot be a salient political cleavage. Third. most people take the position on the issue according to their social characteristics. In other words. most people consider the situations of themselves and their groups so as to take particular positions, rather than take positions randomly. Fourth, most people identify a party or vote for a party according to the positions the party takes on the issues. The research findings show that the ethnic differences, national identity and authoritarian !democratic values are the most important political cleavages, and have considerable impacts on party competition. The reformation/stability issue has some impacts, and is the second most important political cleavage. However, the social welfare issue and envi-ronmental protection/economic development issue are still not so salient in Taiwan.