Taiwan's Democratization Research Articles

A Reachable Governance to Fight COVID-19: Democracy and the Legacy of Embedded Autonomy in Taiwan

Different country showed different governing capacity to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. With reference to the classical concept of embedded autonomy, as used in developmental state of political theory, this paper aims to study the capacity and progression of democratic country, Taiwan, in its fight with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and how democratic state, civil society and bureaucrats have affected the response and measures. Taiwan’s case provides a valuable empirical contribution to the understanding of the long term effect of embedded autonomy in a democratic country. This study argues that democracy does matter to fight Covid-19 pandemic, moreover, the legacy of embedded autonomy can be expanded beyond economic development, and successfully used to explain Taiwan’s capacity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stage. Key observations and discussion addressed in this study includes, first, the extent to which the concept of embedded autonomy is applicable in evaluating and in shaping Taiwan’s efforts to manage the pandemic; second, the extent to which the political system is better at managing COVID-19 crisis by comparing democratic Taiwan and authoritarian China. A central finding of this paper is that, democracy has proven it has the edge in coping with COVID-19 pandemic practically. Theoretically, Taiwan’s case demonstrates a valuable and supplementary example to Evans and Heller (2018) on their broadening view of embedded autonomy. The legacy of the developmental state is applicable to explain Taiwan’s immediate and effective response to the COVID-19 outbreak. A reachable governance to fight COVID-19 lies in ‘the nature of democracy’ and ‘the legacy of embedded autonomy’.

Rethinking the Decentralization of Legislative Organization and its Implications for Policymaking: Evidence from Taiwan

AbstractIt can be challenging for a democratic government to effectively make policies that address crucial national problems. While a bulk of literature reports that many democracies have overcome this challenge through centralization of legislative organization, few studies have explained why legislative decentralization that allegedly impairs policymaking performance would take place. Drawing on Taiwan's experience and over 13,000 legislative bills proposed in Taiwan's parliament between 1993 and 2012, this article demonstrates that the legislative decentralization during the onset of Taiwan's democratization slightly revived the policymaking performance of a near-paralysed parliament. Like drinking poison to quench the thirst, myopic politicians may opt for legislative decentralization as an instant remedy to ease severe legislative obstruction, despite the unfavourable consequences that the resulting decentralized legislative organization may eventually bring about. These findings shed new light on the evolution of legislative organization and account for the difficulties in policymaking facing developing democracies.

Combating COVID-19 in Democratic Taiwan and South Korea

South Korea and Taiwan effectively suppressed the coronavirus without the authoritarian measures imposed in China or the lockdowns used elsewhere. They responded quickly, communicated clearly and consistently about the threat. Both governments had prior experiences with contagions to prepare for an epidemic. And both states had introduced universal health care during their periods of democratization, shaping a consensus among citizens about equity, solidarity, and the role of government in protecting public health. Their strategies provide replicable and repeatable models.

Networks, Politics, and the Literary Public Sphere: The Foundation of Modern Democracy in Taiwan (1970s–1990s)

This article examines how literature is a networked social space of political repression and resistance, refracting broader contestations over national sovereignty, self-determination, and identity. Politicizing the traditionally apolitical “world of letters” in Habermas’s Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, this article employs a novel analysis of the influence that the literary public sphere wields over political consciousness. Using the historical case of Taiwan’s literary networks from the 1970s to the 1990s, this article asserts that the literary public sphere produces a rational-critical generalization of knowledge and exposure to dissonant perspectives that invigorates civil society by creating intelligentsia. Through intelligentsia, ideas within the Taiwanese literary public sphere birthed powerful Dangwai parties that instituted democracy, informed their platforms, and ushered in a new wave of political elites. The Taiwanese case demonstrates how civic tasks can predict political tasks with enough force to stimulate a unique postcolonial political consciousness and spark a revolution.

A New Era in Democratic Taiwan: Trajectories and Turning Points in Politics and Cross-Strait Relations, edited by Jonathan Sullivan and Chun-Yi Lee (2018)

Compte rendu de lecture de : A New Era in Democratic Taiwan: Trajectories and Turning Points in Politics and Cross-Strait Relations, edited by Jonathan Sullivan and Chun-Yi Lee (2018), paru dans International Journal of Taiwan Studies

More Than Anti-Communism: The Cold War and the Meanings of Democracy in Taiwan

ABSTRACT Governments across anti-communist Asia, with US backing or tacit consent, devised institutions and practices for marginalising popular forces. Such internalisation of the Cold War involved measures ranging from violence and ideological mobilisation to disciplinary modes of control. With democratisation, Cold War devices for domestic control could remain entrenched or be rolled back. Examining the relationship between democratic transformation and the unwinding of Cold War practices in Taiwan can shed new light on democratic change in the region. While the Kuomintang regime of the martial law period had abundant resources for suppression, electoral politics was left relatively undisciplined by anti-communist meanings of democracy. The limited elections produced a new group within the political elite, who negotiated for a more open electoral landscape. The rules governing electoral politics in Taiwan today reflect the principles of pluralism and inclusiveness that were at the heart of that elite bargain. As far as control over electoral politics is concerned, and in so far as the electoral sphere’s growth is taken as significant, democratisation moved Taiwan out of the shadow of the Cold War’s internalisation. Comparison with South Korea clarifies an alternative form of change.

How Taiwan Stands Up to China

In January 2020, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen won reelection with a commanding 57 percent of the vote. The result was a setback for China's Taiwan policy under Xi Jinping, and it demonstrated the impressive resilience of Taiwan's democracy in the face of a relentless pressure campaign from Beijing. These elections illustrated a paradox: Taiwan's economy is deeply entwined with the Chinese mainland's, yet Taiwan has proved especially resistant to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence operations. The surprising reversals in the 2020 race suggest that the CCP still struggles to understand how best to influence public opinion in Taiwan.

Social Contact and Taiwanese Political Identity Change in Taiwanese Student Delegations Visiting Mainland China

This study investigates whether visiting the authoritarian nation of China reduces Taiwanese youths’ identification with the democratic Taiwan. There is a significant reduction in the students’ Taiwanese political identity following their visit, namely a reduction of 0.06 on a scale from 1 to 4.

Blessings in Disguise: How Authoritarian Legacies and the China Factor Have Strengthened Democracy in Taiwan

Democracy in Taiwan today appears consolidated and of high quality. Much writing on Taiwan’s democratisation explains this outcome by pointing to aspects of its modernisation, but an underappreciated cause is its well-institutionalised party system, which in comparison to most other Third Wave democracies is a model of competitiveness, consistency, and stability. The sources of party system institutionalisation (psi) in Taiwan can be traced back to two factors: the legacies of the martial-law-era kmt regime, and the emergence of the China question as a fundamental, polarising divide in Taiwanese politics. High psi has ensured a credible alternative to incumbents in each election, enhanced the responsiveness of governments to citizen demands, and encouraged the greater provision of public goods and development of broad, programmatic policies rather than narrowly targeted, clientelist ones. Thus, Taiwan’s democracy is consolidated because of, rather than despite, the legacies of the pre-democratic era and the China factor.

Human Rights and Democracy in Taiwan’s Foreign Policy and Cross-Strait Relations

Since the 1990s, Taiwan has achieved an impressive democratisation that has made it one of the most vibrant democratic societies in Asia. Most of the existing research about Taiwan’s foreign policy and cross-strait relations neglects how Taiwan’s identity and role as a democratic and pluralistic state influences the island’s external relations. This article analyses how Taiwan’s achievements in the field of democracy and human rights affect Taiwan’s foreign policy and its identity in world politics, and why democracy and human rights are important for it and its external relations. The analysis uses role theory and the three roles of normative power, civilian power, and Global Good Samaritan.

From Remonstrance to Impeachment: A Curious Case of “Confucian Constitutionalism” in South Korea

In his path-breaking essay that investigates the rise of judicial review in democratic Taiwan and South Korea, Tom Ginsburg presents the distinctive style of judicial review practiced by both countries in terms of “Confucian constitutionalism,” at the core of which is the practice of constitutional review as remonstrance. This Article examines whether the model of Confucian constitutionalism is still relevant in Korea, especially in light of the Constitutional Court’s recent decision to uphold the motion to impeach the president rather than merely offering remonstrance or warning. By associating the Court’s jurisprudence characterized by highly moralistic language and style of reasoning with Confucian constitutionalism, this Article presents Confucian constitutionalism asindirect constitutionalism, a mode of constitutionalism that aims to shape the polity’s constitutional identity in a way that achieves a meaningful congruence between liberal constitutional principles and the underlying public culture that defines the polity as a distinctive moral community.

Jonathan Sullivan and Chun-Yi Lee, eds., A New Era in Democratic Taiwan: Trajectories and Turning Points in Politics and Cross-Strait Relations

Jonathan Sullivan and Chun-Yi Lee, eds., A New Era in Democratic Taiwan: Trajectories and Turning Points in Politics and Cross-Strait Relations

Myth and Reality in Taiwan’s Democratisation

ABSTRACT Taiwan began democratisation in 1988 after the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo. However, even three decades later, a substantial number of Western scholars still argue that Chiang established democracy in Taiwan. This article demonstrates that Chiang Ching-kuo did not establish democracy. The article also examines related issues such as whether there are differences between “liberalisation” and democratisation and whether or not the regime of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo was colonial. Thirty years after democratisation in Taiwan, too many scholars still follow the false history that the former dictatorship mandated, but now, under democracy, scholars should have a much better understanding of Taiwan’s history and politics.

Personal votes, electoral competitiveness of parties, and legislative representation in Taiwan under SNTV

AbstractWe advance the literature on electoral institutions and legislative representation by investigating legislators’ position taking strategies in Taiwan under the single non-transferable voting period. Existing research largely assumes that representatives elected from the same electoral rule behave similarly. We challenge this conventional understanding by arguing that legislators in multi-member districts (MMDs) tend to move toward the extreme direction from the party line if they come from districts where their party is less competitive. This pattern of legislative representation allows them to appeal to partisan voters, as lowering one's partisan profile can be too costly in such districts. On the contrary, those who are elected from strong partisan districts are expected to deviate from the party toward the moderate direction. Given a solid partisan foundation in these districts, these legislators may target voters across party lines. Our analysis covering the entire period of MMD elections after Taiwan's democratization (1992–2008) provides robust empirical evidence to our theoretical claim. Our findings, therefore, shed lights for future studies on the intertwining nature between electoral systems, district level factors, and legislative representation.

A Long Century of Taiwan's Westernized Justice System: Historicizing the Dynamics of Her Judicial Reform of 1999

This draft is to become a chapter of the book project Judicial Reform in Taiwan: Institutionalising Democracy and the Diffusion of Law (Neil Chisholm ed., Routledge, forthcoming). The project bears on Taiwan's judicial reform of 1999. It is the first book-length study of Taiwan's judiciary and its transformation in the early stage of Taiwan's democratization. Written after a second judicial reform that was launched in 2017, this chapter aims at historicizing not only Taiwan's judiciary but also the attempts to reform it. This chapter provides in its first part a historical account of Taiwan's justice system and the society's perception of it in the long century between 1895 to 1999. Rejecting the conventional narratives which enumerate origins of legal reception, this part explains how the justice system under Japanese rule (1895--1945) has earned respect despite the colonialism, and why this system fell into disarray under the Republican Chinese occupation (1945--92). This chapter argues then in its second part that Taiwan's reformers have reduced the poor quality of the country's administration of justice to the malfunction of the judiciary alone. Taking into account the history of Western judiciary itself, this chapter argues that the key reform issues pertain rather to state-building than the making of organizational and procedural laws. This chapter argues that the centralization of government lawyering in a broad sense is Taiwan's priority and expects that this issue would soon lead to more reform attempts.

Soft Power Runs into Popular Geopolitics: Western Media Frames Democratic Taiwan

How does the Western media frame Taiwan? Analysing a large set of Western newspaper reports over the past two decades, this article provides the first systematic assessment of global coverage of Taiwan. Seeking to explain why Taiwan has been framed in the way it has, the article reports the views of journalists and editors and puts forward a framework based on popular geopolitics. The article concludes with a discussion of why media framing matters, and the implications for Taiwan’s public diplomacy and ‘soft power’ efforts.

Democracy under Siege

Research Article| August 01 2018 Democracy under Siege: Xiangmin Politics in Sunflower Taiwan Ya-Chung Chuang Ya-Chung Chuang Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google boundary 2 (2018) 45 (3): 61–78. https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-6915581 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter Email Permissions Search Site Citation Ya-Chung Chuang; Democracy under Siege: Xiangmin Politics in Sunflower Taiwan. boundary 2 1 August 2018; 45 (3): 61–78. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-6915581 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll Journalsboundary 2 Search Advanced Search This essay examines the recent crisis of democracy in Taiwan. The Sunflower Movement and its enduring dynamism have successfully mobilized Taiwanese voters to rethink an urgent situation with regard to the “PRC effect,” which, related to an economic and political assertion of sovereignty and hegemony, has recently extended to efforts to dismantle democracy and to undermine shared consciousness, local wisdom, and political life. This nationwide project for a democratic reevaluation is therefore about a new mode of social protest. The Sunflower Movement has revealed that a generation of young, frank-talking critics has been born into this now not-so-young democracy. Often called the politics of xiangmin (literally “country people”) for their style of straightforwardness, this new contentious activity in Taiwan involves netizens as cyberactors and presents the most recent force of antagonism against this new threat to the nation’s search for democracy. democracy, social protest, Sunflower Movement, PRC effect The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2018 Duke University Press2018 You do not currently have access to this content.

Perils of Transition : Korea and Taiwan Democratization Compared

Perils of Transition : Korea and Taiwan Democratization Compared

Die Rezeption des kontinentaleuropäischen Zivilrechts in Taiwan und die Eigenständigkeit des taiwanischen Zivilrechts

Taiwan became a colony of Japan in 1895, and thus followed Japan in transplanting Continental European civil law. Early in the period of Japanese rule, Taiwanese civil matters were largely decided according to customs, which were informed by concepts and terminology of Continental European civil law. However, the ownership, pledge and mortgage of Continental European law had been partly introduced to Taiwan. Later in the period of Japanese rule, property law in the Japanese Civil Code, receiving Continental European law, took effect in Taiwan. In contrast, the status law relating to the Taiwanese was still applied to customary law and was shaped by terminology of Continental European civil law. Taiwan became a province of China during the period of four years after World War II, and it began to implement the civil law of China in the republican era. As a result, the Taiwanese status law was also modeled on Continental European law. Taiwan has been a de facto state since 1949, the year China began to be ruled by the communist party. Taiwan continues to enforce the civil law, which originated in Republican China, with its roots in Continental European law, and adds many elements from American law in the special civil law due to close political and economic ties with the United States. However, the theory and practice of civil law in Taiwan has been dominated by the jurisprudence and laws of Continental Europe, especially Germany. In post-war Taiwan, the majority of the first-generation legal scholars came from Republican China and were deeply influenced by Continental European law; the minority had been trained in pre-war Japanese law, which received Continental European law as well. Many Taiwanese legal scholars, from the second generation to today, directly borrowed from Germany or learned from Japan to introduce the civil law and its theories in post-war Europe to Taiwan. After the democratization of Taiwan in the 1990s, people in Taiwan have reformed their legal system for their own needs. With legal knowledge incorporating the ideas of Continental European civil law, a localized civil law has been shaped by the decisions of Taiwanese courts, the struggle of social movements in Taiwan and the reaction of Taiwan’s legislature. This law is unique among countries in East Asia because it is based on the social needs of Taiwan.

Introduction

Introduction Jessica Keough (bio) Considerable uncertainty has surrounded the Trump administration's priorities in Asia. While U.S. cabinet officials have at times sought to reassure the region that the United States intends to preserve its commitment to the post–World War II international system, other comments and actions by the administration have indicated an inward turn that suggests less active U.S. engagement. These mixed signals have left regional allies, partners, and other states wondering what the future holds for their relationships with the United States. A roundtable discussion in the January 2017 issue of Asia Policy, "Assessing U.S.-Asia Relations in a Time of Transition," presented mainly American perspectives on the major issues facing the United States in its bilateral relations with leading powers in the Asia-Pacific at the outset of the Trump administration. This Asia Policy roundtable offers perspectives on U.S.-Asia relations from leading scholars and policy practitioners in select Asia-Pacific states. In their essays, these experts identify the most salient current and over-the-horizon issues in their countries' evolving relationships with the United States and evaluate how bilateral relations have progressed so far under the Trump administration. For China, Xie Tao examines four major issues confronting the U.S.-China relationship that both raise the possibility of conflict and offer prospects for cooperation: North Korea, the South China Sea, democratization in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the sharing of global major-power responsibilities. The United States and China will likely find themselves working with each other in these areas, whether they want to or not, and will need to treat each other respectfully to avoid escalating risks. In Japan and South Korea, the U.S. alliance continues to form the bedrock of bilateral relations. Noboru Yamaguchi finds that, to Japan's relief, the U.S. commitment to the alliance and to Northeast Asian security seems unchanged, despite indications during Trump's presidential campaign that he might shift the burden for Northeast Asia's defense to the region. Kang Choi also addresses the importance of the United States' role as Northeast Asia's security guarantor in his essay on South Korea. Although Japan and [End Page 2] South Korea are concerned about China's rise and regional dominance, both identify North Korea as their most urgent security threat. According to Choi, the new administrations in Washington and Seoul will need to closely coordinate their policies toward the North and establish trust in each other. In light of North Korea's alarming acceleration of its nuclear weapons and missile programs, the allies face critical challenges ahead. While U.S. allies in Northeast Asia worry about abandonment, similar fears are very high in Taiwan. Ming Lee argues that, given its unofficial relations with most countries (including the United States) but also its unique security commitments from Washington, Taiwan struggles to make its voice heard internationally and fears becoming a bargaining chip in U.S. relations with China. The Kremlin is watching with interest the domestic upheaval in U.S. politics over allegations about the Trump campaign's possible links to Russia. Dmitri Trenin characterizes Russia's relationship with the United States under Trump as "confrontational with islands of cooperation." Issues such as NATO, European security, Afghanistan, and sanctions over Ukraine continue to generate friction, while reaching an agreement on sensitive issues such as Syria and the renegotiation of strategic arms control treaties will require a cautious, patient approach to overcome obstacles along the path of cooperation. China's rise is the defining structural characteristic shaping U.S.-India relations. Balancing China will likely bring Washington and New Delhi closer together over the long term, Rajesh Rajagopalan argues, however, that a number of roadblocks—the Trump administration's transactional approach to bilateral relationships, U.S. relations with Pakistan, economic nationalism, and domestic chaos in U.S. politics—could hinder this progress in the short term. Pakistan and the United States, by contrast, remain bound together over Afghanistan and the war on terrorism, but the long-term prospects for this strained relationship are uncertain. Moeed Yusuf details how Islamabad's and Washington's views of each other and their strategic priorities in South Asia increasingly...