世界各地工業發展帶來經濟繁榮之際，也為生態環境與人類帶來前所未有的浩劫。原本為地方經濟帶來大量利益的企業，最終成為污染地區居民的共同敵人，也成為污染受害者爭相提出訴訟與要求賠償的對象。綜觀世界各地公害事件的發展路徑雖然相似，但是在不同的社會、經濟、政治、與制度環境之下，公害事件的發展結果卻可能大不相同。有些公害事件似乎在大規模的賠償發放之後便不了了之，有些公害事件則止於污染整治，也有些公害事件在社區居民、各層級政府、以及非營利組織的合作之下，同時進行污染整治、損害賠償、與污染社區的永續發展。為什麼不同的公害事件在看似相同的發展路徑上，最終會產生不同的政策結果？在政府處理公害事件的政策網絡中，主要行動者之間互動的動機與結果，是否因著不同的社會、經濟、政治、與制度環境而有所不同？本研究以社會資本理論與交易成本理論為基礎，探討大型公害事件的政策網絡中，主要行動者之間所建立的社會資本，以及該社會資本如何影響（增加或降低）行動者互動過程中的交易成本，進而促使行動者之間治理架構的形成。此外，透過對於台灣台南市中石化台鹼安順廠戴奧辛污染個案，以及日本熊本縣水俁市甲基汞污染個案二者之間的比較，探究影響社會資本形成與治理架構建立的不同原因。在理論上，本研究企圖透過污染個案的實證研究，驗證社會資本、交易成本、與治理架構三者之間的關係。在實務上，本研究則企圖透過台日污染個案的比較，從水俁市的政策經驗萃取出適合我國政策環境並值得我國借鏡之處，以提供政府在處理中石化污染個案或其他類似污染個案時的參考。 The major two purposes of this study are, 1) to verify how social capitals affect policy stakeholders’ transaction costs in policy interaction (or exchange) processes and 2) to explore the key factors causing differences of policy outcomes between two environmental pollution cases through comparative study. There have been a lot of arguments regarding how social capitals decrease transaction costs among policy actors but few empirical studies were conducted to verify this argument. Theoretically, this study expects to contribute on the linkage between social capitals and transaction costs with empirical study. Practically, environmental pollution and protection have been key issues in environmental governance and sustainable development for decades. In these days, different large-scale pollution cases keep being discovered all over the world. This study expects to provide policy suggestions for governments who are responsible for formulating policies to solve environmental pollution problems and take after pollution victims. The two cases selected for this comparative study is sizable dioxin pollution caused by China Petrochemical Development Corporation An-Shun Plant in Tainan, Taiwan, and worldwide famous methyl mercury pollution caused by Chisso Company in Minamata City, Japan. This research will examine social capital built among policy network actors via three dimensions including trust, norm, and network. The major aspects used to analyze transaction costs are decision making and participation cost, cost due to commitment problems, agency cost, and the cost of uncertainty. Secondary data analysis and in-depth interview with key policy actors will be conducted for this study
