從比較政治的觀點而言，威權國家倚重國家專制權力以鞏固統治者的權力，是一個顯而易見的特徵。然而，與其他威權政體相比，1950－60年的國民黨政府所倚重的軍、警、情等鎮壓體制卻顯得更強大，超出鞏固威權統治之所需。既有研究以殖民統治、遷佔者國家或移入政權等概念解釋此一現象，指出威權統治與鎮壓體制之設置，除了具有對內支配臺灣社會與維護內部安全的需要外，亦有協助對外發動戰爭、反攻復國的功能。然而，這些研究並未進一步說明國民黨政府的威權統治、鎮壓體制與戰爭動員之間的關係，本文試圖以國家中心的研究途徑探究此一問題，說明國民黨政府以威權統治為基礎，制度性地穿透社會，建立戰時動員體，將人力資源挹注於戰爭動員。本文以口述歷史與官方文件為基礎，指出國民黨政府透過戶政與警察強制性地管控人口，並在此一管制基礎上建立汲取戰時人力資源的役改制度。國民黨政府將戶政、警察與役政等制度整合與納入軍情單位「臺灣警備總司令部」的掌握，以之兼管「軍師團管區」體制，使其能夠軍事性地管制人力，將役男與後備軍人投入戰爭。由此，臺灣警備總司令部因為具有警備治安與強制動員的能力，而成為國民黨政府鎮壓體制中最強而有力的軍情單位。

From the perspective of comparative politics, relying on the state’s despotic power to consolidate the ruler’s power is an evident trait of authoritarian states. Compared to the other authoritarian states, the Kuomintang (KMT) state had constructed a repressive regime during the 1950s and 60s that was more powerful than what an authoritarian ruler necessarily needs for his rule, incorporating the army, the police, and the intelligence units. . Past researches on this topic explained the construction of this mighty repressive regime by defining the KMT state in Taiwan as a colonial ruler, settler state or settler regime. They pointed out that the repressive regime was established not only for dominating the society and maintaining internal security, but also for waging the war to retake mainland China. However, these researches did not further elaborate the relationship between the authoritarian rule, the repressive regime and war mobilization in Taiwan. This article employs the state-centric approach to explore the question and illustrates that, with its authoritarian rule, the KMT state could institutionally penetrate the society to extract manpower for war mobilization. Oral histories and official documents reveal that the state made use of the police system and the Hukou system (the household registration) to control the citizens and then built the conscription system to extract the manpower necessary for war. The KMT regime integrated the police, the Hukou and the conscription system and put these institutions under the control of a military-intelligence unit, the Taiwan Garrison Command. The Taiwan Garrison Command had the capacity to militarily administrate the manpower, particularly the draftees and reserve soldiers. With its capacity of policing the society and repressively extracting the manpower for war mobilization, the Taiwan Garrison Command had therefore become the most powerful military- intelligence unit within the repressive regime.