After the lifting of martial law, civil servants suffered blows mainly from two sides. One was policy instability caused by too rapid change and a lack of clarity in the laws. Another side rose out of the "psychological lifting of martial law," raising consciousness of popular rights and leading to demands reasonable and unreasonable upon the government.
政大公共行政系副教授許濱松指出，解嚴後，公務員受到的衝擊，主要來自兩方面：一方面來自變動太快所形成的政策未定、法令未明的問題，公務員本身是執行者，因而備受責難；另一方面，來自民間因為「心態解嚴」、權力意識提高，因而提出種種合理與不合理的要求，也讓公務員壓力增大。