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The paper attempts to determine what kind of constitutional rule would be preferred in a young democracy if an institutional opportunity for constitutional change were to occur. Since both democracy and constitutional rule are viewed as the most predominant values in modern times, this paper takes a mythical approach. This approach involves three theoretical threads for looking into the transfer between an old and a new constitutional myth. They are: the political elite interest calculation; the masses' comprehension of what democracy is, and the proximity of a given myth to democracy. The case studied is Taiwan's constitutional choice between a direct form of electing the president and a kind of indirect one during the period from 1990 to 1994. By applying the three theoretical threads, the paper first uncovers how the political leaders might have used both power-maximization and power-loss minimization logic to choose their side on the issue. However, their interest calculation cannot be done in a social vacuum. Especially in a young democracy, little formal precedence or experience can be cited as a source of legitimizing the democratic nature of a given institution. Thus, people's comprehension level of democracy at the moment may play a crucial role in defining whether a certain constitutional rule is democratic or not. Therefore, we took the public responses to these two options during that period into account.Survey results indeed showed that respondents more easily understood the direct form of electing the president and, therefore, supported it more than they did the indirect form. This social mood was quite influential in consolidating discrepant ideas between elites on the presidential election format issue and helping the direct form eventually win out. Last but not least, the paper also offers a discussion about the proximity of each option to democracy. The direct option, by all theoretical accounts, is more proximal to democracy than the indirect, though what it can really achieve is uncertain. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by the Kuomintang party's ability to stay in power during Taiwan's relatively peaceful democratic transition, mainstream scholarship considers democratization in Taiwan a "top-down," "transacted" process initiated and managed by the Kuomintang party. The literature that has addressed the international dimensions of Taiwan's democratization has followed this pattern of analysis - President Chiang Ching-kuo initiated reforms in the 1980s in response to growing challenges exerted by a changing geopolitical environment on the Kuomintang's legitimation formula, thereby ensuring the party continued to remain at the apex of power. While the above literature assumed that the Kuomintang had the power to control the democratization process, this paper argues that the geopolitical dynamics surrounding Taiwan in the 1970s and 80s had the effect of gradually shifting power to the political opposition by allowing it the room to mobilize a previously passive cross-section of society - electorally and otherwise - based on the idea of "self-determination." Thus, although the Kuomintang remained the dominant party in the post-breakthrough phase, the political opposition had the ability to effectively challenge the Kuomintang - ultimately forcing it to alter the institutions through which it exercised power. By re-examining the international influences on Taiwan's democratization process, this paper will therefore question the established understanding of its dynamics and the characterization that it has earned over the years. In doing so, the question of power in the dynamics of regime transition on Taiwan will be reconsidered. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of democratization on Taiwan's foreign policy making. For fifty years, the ruling Koumintang determined Taiwan's China policy. The democratization that made possible the election of President Chen Shui-bian, however, complicated foreign policy making by allowing the participation of more voices in Taiwan's politics. For the past five years, the now opposition KMT and other parties have challenged Chen's China policy with a vastly different foreign policy agenda. This paper examines their views, and the influence of party cleavage on Taiwan's China policy. It seeks to answer the following questions: In Taiwan, does "politics stop at the water's edge"? (i.e., is there strong coordination among national officials and politicians), or is the state "disaggregated" with different elements (e.g., political parties) conducting semi-autonomous foreign policies in the service if disparate societal interests? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains why democratization destabilizes some asymmetric alliances more than others. I argue that democratization has the potential to destabilize asymmetric alliances because it unleashes a powerful force of nationalism in the political arena. Nationalist elites who come to power in democratizing states view military dependence and resultant foreign influence as a humiliating encroachment of sovereignty. Therefore, they demand an autonomous, equal partnership often in disregard of power disparity within the alliance. The major ally in turn resents their seemingly ungrateful demands and unreasonable policies, and therefore shows a decreased interest in the alliance. As a result of these frictions, the alliance becomes less stable. Democratization, however, does not evenly affect asymmetric alliances because it occurs in different threat environments and takes divergent paths. These factors mitigate or amplify the destructive potential of nationalist sentiments that democratization unleashes. This paper tests these arguments by analyzing three asymmetric alliances in which a weaker member democratized since the late 1980s: U.S. alignments with South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how Taiwan's democratization redefined ethnic identity.In this case, an ethnic minority identified with an oppressive regime (thewaishengren - "people from outside the province and who emigrated to Taiwanafter 1945) successfully avoided persecution even though it lost power.Conversely, an ethnic majority (the bendiren - "people from the soil" - ornative Taiwanese) avoided inflicting reprisals against its former oppressor.The paper explains this outcome as an outgrowth of the dynamic ofethno-genesis and ethnic mobilization among minorities: namely, the abilityof waishengren elites to co-opt over the years bendiren, as wellas their claim to be able to represent the interests of the Hakka and theaboriginal people. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although in the long term, democratization is expected to exert pacifying effects on international relations, scholars have argued that conflict is more likely during democratic transitions. They argue that politicians in democratizing states are more likely to make jingoistic appeals, and coalitions of political, business, and/or military leaders are likely to form and to ?logroll? for military buildups and other destabilizing policies. This proposition has great significance for East Asia, which faces two potential political transitions: the democratization of China, and Korean unification. This paper tests a theory of democratization and conflict in the cases of three previous East Asian political transitions: Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. I test not only for the occurrence of conflict, but also for the presence of the predicted mechanisms through which conflict occurs (nationalistic appeals and logrolling). I find that although there is some evidence of nationalistic posturing that is consistent with the theory?s predictions, for the most part, evidence from these cases does not support the theory. Leaders did not make jingoistic appeals; they were more likely to preach stability. Furthermore, I find that the public, the military, and the business community do have substantial influence over policy makers, but do not find that these groups advocated military buildups or offensive military strategies. This study casts doubt on the relevance of the ?democratization and war? thesis for future East Asian political transitions; it finds support for theories in the liberal school of international relations, including the beneficial effects of democratization, policies of engagement, and economic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between justice and democratization in a representative newly democratized country (NDC) -- Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the new left in Taiwan and South Korea and the renewed left in Brazil and Chile. I contend that the left can no longer best understood in terms of antiquated sociological or economic categories. The new left in East Asia and Latin America is a political project and its politics are embedded in the processes of democratic transition. My argument is simple: (i) Democratization, a variable process of change, leads to different patterns of new left organization. (ii) Meanwhile, the introduction of democracy, a form of governance with universally shared features (irrespective of how the transition to democracy took place), promotes the moderation of the new left across all four cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is government spending used strategically in the emergent Asian democracies of South Korea and Taiwan? As nations generally considered to have weathered democratization, a study of government spending in South Korea and Taiwan is instructive on how allocations may be used strategically without undermining democratization process. This paper evaluates government spending for South Korea and Taiwan and compares pre- and post-democratization patterns. Three interesting results point to the value of longitudinal analyses of individual nations to frame expectations on spending and underpin robust findings: First, defense spending increases in election years in both nations, but not social welfare spending. Second, democratization does not exert an effect independent of elections and legislative fragmentation. Third, government spending is a viable resource for party building; however, this spending has to be targeted at building the nation's or party's strengths rather than aimed at divisive politics. While some of the results appear contrary to the literature, they are consistent with the governing party's efforts to broaden electoral support in emergent democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing and interactive processes of democratization, nation building and nationalism in Taiwan have a fundamental influence on the dynamics of cross-Strait relations (Chu 2004, Wu 2004). The combination of electoral competition and an evolving politicized discourse on Taiwanese national identity have rendered Taipei the most dynamic and volatile actor in CSR. However, in the absence of diplomatic communication channels between Taipei and Beijing, high-level interaction between Taiwan and China has predominantly taken the form of unilateral public pronouncements. Since the mid-1990's cross-Strait relations have followed a cyclical pattern of "working silence" punctuated by "provocative statements" issued by Li Deng-hui, and since 2000 Chen Shui-bian. Whether indicative of strategic calculation, deep-seated conviction or electoral contingency, President Chen's propensity to issue statements of the "one country on each side" type have resulted in his being characterized as a "pro-independence President" (Ross 2006). In consequence, conciliatory statements and Chen's insistence on decoupling "democratic reforms" such as referenda and constitution reform and non-confrontational expressions of Taiwanese identity from "Taiwan independence" have fallen on deaf ears. In this paper we investigate the content and strategy of Chen Shui-bian's public utterances by seeking to answer three questions: First, is the characterization of Chen as a "pro-independence president" accurate, or is it possible to distinguish advocacy of "Taiwan independence" broadly defined, from a qualitatively different "national identity" discourse? Second, how much variation in the content of Chen's speeches can be explained by his strategic relationship with the group to whom the speech is addressed? Third, what structure underlies the timing and locations of "pro-independence" proclamations that might help us understand Chen's presidential discourse? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan's peaceful transition from a one-party authoritarian government to a multi-party democracy in less than twenty years has been applauded by many analysts. This change however has not come without serious consequences for cross-strait relations. In particular, the democratization of Taiwan has created greater conflict with mainland China as it has created electoral incentives for politicians to take a more aggressive stance to assert Taiwan's de facto independence, leading China to worry that a formal declaration of independence may not be far behind. In addition, US policy, formulated when neither side of the strait had an incentive to deviate from the status quo, has become a dangerous anachronism under present conditions.This paper proposes a new game theoretic strategic interaction model that captures the core changes in the ROC-PRC-US triangle since Taiwan's democratization. In particular, this model incorporates the uncertainty concerning whether Taiwan will attempt to move towards formal independence or maintain a "dynamic status quo". Furthermore, China's uncertainty of Taiwan's intentions is included, as is America's decision to defend the island if China pushes towards war. Unlike previous models that only focus on Taiwan and China or view Taiwan as a responder to Sino-American politics, this model attempts to show the extent to which Taiwan's domestic politics shapes cross-strait conflict. Furthermore, the model illustrates that neither a policy of strategic ambiguity or strategic certainty on the part of America is enough to maintain peace. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen a great deal of interest in the extent to which "Asian values," or Confucian ideology, inhibit a country's acceptance of liberal-democratic values. Much of that research, however, focused on the experience of non-democratic states, concentrated on theory rather than empirical analysis, was written before the complete democratization of Taiwan, and/or created a pan-Confucian-values index instead of estimating the effects of the main components of Confucianism (family loyalty, social hierarchies, and social harmony) individually. In this paper we review theoretical arguments for why Confucian values would decrease public support for democratization, women's rights, and freedom of speech. We then use OLS and Logit to estimate models of data from the Taiwan subsamples of the 1995 World Values Study and the 2001 East Asia Barometer. Our results indicate that adherence to Confucian values did not consistently undermine public support for liberal democracy in 1995 and even increased support for some liberal-democratic values in 2001. Our findings thus disconfirm previous empirical research on this question. The article concludes by discussing how Confucian and liberal-democratic values might reinforce rather than undermine each other. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Taiwanese and South Korean samples of the 2000-2004 Asian Barometer dataset, this paper confirms the Christian democracy hypothesis that Christianity (including Catholicism) contributes to democratization by indoctrinating democratic values and behaviors to their believers. However, the statistical analyses also support the religious market hypothesis that the logic of competition in pluralistic religious markets compels various religions to converge on dominant democratic values and behaviors within each country, although different religions and different countries continue to vary in the degrees and aspects of democratic commitment. These findings offer a more optimistic view for the prospect of non-Christian "religious democracies" than what the current scholarship proposes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite almost two decades of democratic deepening in Korea, the streets of Seoul are still filled with unionists chanting slogans while the evening news programs rarely go a day without some story on a labor strike. In contrast, union mobilization has become a seasonal event in Taiwan and labor issues seem to have become integrated into the formal political process. This variation of union activism in post-democratized Korea and Taiwan is the main question this paper seeks to explain. This research asserts that political institutions created during the democratization process create incentives for the inclusion of unions into formal political channels. Greater institutional permissiveness combined with opportunities of union-party alliances moderate the mode of union mobilization by guiding unions to address the labor agenda through existing political channels (as in the case of Taiwanese unions). Unions alienated from political institutions, including electoral politics, are more likely to sustain radical mobilization strategies (as in the case of Korean unions). ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about the transition Taiwan to democracy is presented. It examines the role of the middle class in the country's democratic transition. It discusses the significance of factors including class-related grievances, demands and identities to many urban social movements based in poor neighborhoods.

This paper examines how the KMT has adapted its strategies since its electoral defeats beginning in 2000. It outlines some of the key obstacles in the way of the KMT's successful adaptation. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the factors that contribute to the different policy positions of Taiwan residents toward either unification or independence. Association of the citizens' perception of threats on their position regarding the island's future relations with China; Linkage between identity and policy preferences as mediated by levels of security/insecurity; Effect of democratization on the citizens' policy preferences.

Democratization in Taiwan has reached a new height. At the individual level, findings in recent research indicate voters in the new democracy not only demonstrate high level of political participation but strong efficacious attitudes toward the government and regime (Ho et al 2002). Another intriguing analysis giving a profile of the ‘new Taiwanese voters’ even predicts the new political generation will deny Kuomintang (KMT) the role of a major competing party in future elections (Liu 2002). At the regime level, emergence of new parties and new alliances since the last presidential election in 2000 complicates the strategic voting choices and more importantly political landscape in major policy making institutions. While a two-party system is barely in tact, conventional party realignment theories fall short of explaining the subtlety of political development in Taiwan. In this analysis, we adopt newly released data from the 2001 and 2002 Taiwan Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) to investigate the attitudinal evolution of the Taiwan electorate in the new Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government. Specifically, we examine the change and continuity in party support among the Taiwan voters and how the new party support structure transforms the political party system in the new millennium. As new political players throw their hats into the ring, we inquire about the implications of new coalitions on Taiwan’s political party system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is 1) to cross-regionally investigate the exact influences of international security and geopolitical order on the process of democratization in Taiwan and Hungary, and 2) to further develop a more general model suitable to comparatively investigating the relationship between geopolitical/security orders and domestic democratization. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examines the bureaucracy and democratization process in Taiwan following the banknote reforms in the 1990s. The compatibility of bureaucracy and democracy based on the sociological institutionalist theory is explained. The move of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (CBC) to takeover the issuance of dollar banknotes from the Bank of Taiwan is noted.

Since the 1980s, changing national identities have transformed the China-Taiwan and Korean conflicts. Democratization in Taiwan and South Korea, and liberalization in China, have forced leaders to compete for popular legitimacy by appealing to national identities. Along with the collapse of the Soviet Union, these contested national identities have been the main factors driving change in the conflicts—pushing China and Taiwan inexorably apart and toward a showdown, while helping to sustain what appeared to be a mortally wounded North Korea. This explains why one U.S. ally, Taiwan, has become more hawkish, while the other, South Korea, has turned more dovish. These foreign policy changes, in turn, have reinforced changes in underlying national identities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overreporting of votes in elections is an important topic for survey research, and it has received comparatively little attention other than in some western countries. This work employs Taiwan as the case and analyzes the propensity of non-voters to report that they voted in surveys. The main task is to present the results of a split-sample experiment in the "2004 Taiwan's Election and Democratization Study" (TEDS 2004L), which is designed to examine whether a survey context can reduce vote overreporting. The findings reveal that although the experiment through changes in the questionnaire context was still far from successful, it should be noted that vote overreporting is a field worthy of continued research. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have produced a considerable amount of scholarship which significantly contributes to our understanding of how individual votes. What is under-explored in this scholarship is an analysis of the effects of external threats on vote decisions. Utilizing survey data collected by the Taiwan's Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) Project, this study examine the hypothesis that Taiwanese citizens' vote choices in the 2004 presidential election are conditional on their perceptions of threats, i.e., the possibility of military attacks from China and the likelihood of armed interventions by the United States on Taiwan's behalf. When respondents perceive a high level of threats, they are less likely to vote for candidates who proposed policies that would result in cross-Strait conflicts. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a comparative study of the popular mobilization and democratic transitions in South Korea and Taiwan in the 1980s. It presents a review of literature concerning the influence of labor mobilization on democratic transitions. It argues that the constructive role of social movements in democratic transition may have enduring effects on democratic reforms. It also explores the role of popular mobilization in democratization.

The article presents a study which examined the influence of Confucianism on the development of multi-party system in Taiwan's democratization from 1983 to 2004. It found that Confucian values related to harmony contribute to the public's support for the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progress Party (DPP). It argues that people who believe in Confucian values support the two parties during different historical periods because the Confucian ideology promotes loyalty and dedication to status-quo regime and authority.