為何民主化後的臺灣，政府的廉潔程度不進反退？本文首先以委託人與代理人理論來回顧與檢視民主治理的基本型態，再從國際透明組織所公布的「全球貪腐趨勢指數」與我國法務部所公布的「政府廉政主觀指標」民意調查資料中，找出民眾心目中，要為貪腐負責的主要人員。最後，本文強調，臺灣在倡廉反貪的作為上，特別是針對民選公職與政務領導的部分，尚有相當多的努力空間與必要。人民不能完全依賴其代理人來解決貪腐問題，必須在民主治理過程中扮演更主動積極的角色。

After democratic transformation, the integrity of the Taiwanese government failed to live up to expectations. Why did this happen? This article first applies the principle-agent theory to review the basic model of democratic governance, and then uses the survey data from the Global Corruption Barometer (published by Transparency International) and the Government Integrity Subjective Index (published by the Ministry of Justice in Taiwan) to identify the major sources of corruption. Finally, this article emphasizes that Taiwan needs to exert greater effort on promoting integrity and fighting against corruption, especially with a focus on the elected officials and political appointees. In this process, the citizens cannot rely upon their agents, but must play a more active and aggressive role in democratic governance.