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Does religion matter in Taiwanese politics? Our paper rejects a simple answer to it. Both the pros and cons can find statistical support from this paper. In many cases, beliefs, religious commitment, and civic-religious group types have significant impacts on Political Tolerance, Traditional Political Values, Political Participation, and Party Preference. But these impacts are not consistent across different regression models, after controlling for age, sex, income, education, and marriage. However, in most cases, we find civic-religious group type a powerful religious factor affecting political values and behaviors. This supports our social capital thesis that participation in religious groups (particularly, non-traditional religions) enables the believers to learn liberal political values and accumulate their social capital for democratic participation. Although religious leaders might indoctrinate their believers with traditional political values or favor certain political parties, they do not necessarily dictate the political thinking or behavior of the activist believers. After all, the religious behaviors of most Taiwanese believers are very personal, de-institutional, and non-theological. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some authoritarian elections bring about democratic outcomes and not others? Building on distinctions between hegemonic and competitive electoral authoritarian regimes, this paper makes two arguments. First, elite calculations to liberalize or repress affect the type of election permitted. Second, de-institutionalization of party-state fusion must take place before authoritarian elections can become more competitive. Through a comparative study of two similar cases of hegemonic party regimes with different outcomes, this paper traces the conditions that forced Taiwan's electoral "opening" in the 1980s and the strategies that entrench the hegemonic rule of the People's Action Party (PAP) in Singapore. Despite recent liberalization, elections in Singapore are unlikely to bring about party alternation unless de-institutionalization, as in Taiwan, occurs to level the playing field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper capitalizes on Taiwan's two survey data sets, collected in the years of 2001 and 2006, to detect the relationship between popular trust in democratic institutions and beliefs in and support for democracy to shed lights on Taiwan's democratic consolidation. Taiwan's 2000 presidential election realized a peaceful power transition from the KMT to the DPP, when the long time ruling party, abounding with sociopolitical resources, was voted down and the newly formed opposition party, with a scarcity of resources, came to power. Some observers have been optimistic, saying that Taiwan's democracy has been consolidating since the year 2000. However, others have been pessimistic, saying that with eight years of the DPP in power, people's trust in democratic institutions has been deteriorating as has the growth of democratic beliefs. The latter contradictory development has posited a puzzle for democratic governance, which is the main theme of this paper. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to explore whether a multiple party system demands more diverse information sources and creates more complex information networks than a single party system does and as a result, predicted by theories of democracy, is capable of deepening democratization process and improving democratic quality. Departing from this theoretical framework, this paper chooses to study information seeking and networks during the legislative process of Taiwan's fourth (1999-2002)and fifth term Legislative Yuan(2002-5), which are respectively single party scenario and multi-party competition scenario.After carefully reviewing the different categories of bills and the similar processes of scrutinizing those bills across the fourth and the fifth legislative terms, we select five bills each to cross-analyze the formal information seeking activities and the informal information networks. The technique we employ is data-mining technology, aided by manually recode those of listed information providers and invited personnel by the legislative committees.This paper proposes that the information seeking and networks of the fifth term Legislative Yuan is wider, more complex and more professional oriented than the fourth term. The findings of the paper primarily conform to this expectation. ..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 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]

An examination of trends in Taiwan's national identity in the recent past reveals that important changes have occurred that seem to point to an increasing Taiwanization of identity on the island. However, there is also evidence that national identity opinions do not break down neatly into well-delineated Taiwanese and Chinese categories and that national identity in Taiwan is a complex affair. This paper is an introduction to the issues that inform national identity questions in Taiwan and an attempt to elucidate questions that often arise when examining this issue area. Over a decade after the end of martial law and the beginning of Taiwan's experiment in democracy, what can be said of the national identity of the people of Taiwan? Is Taiwan the first Chinese democracy, or a budding new nation of its own? What is the state of national identity in Taiwan and what are its implications for the future of the island and its relations with China? Use of historical, structural, and cultural information gleaned from surveys, interviews, and cultural studies leads to the conclusion that extreme opinions in identity debates do not entirely explain the majority of opinion located between the extremes and that the opinions of this middle are often seemingly contradictory. The majority of Taiwanese continue to show elements of both a Chinese and a Taiwanese identity but unevenly, depending on what issue is in question. This perplexity has important repercussions for the political future of Taiwan and its relations with China. [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]

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]

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 article attempts to explain the formation of Taiwan’s opposition coalition, a phenomena of critical importance to the unfolding of her democratic politics. Seeing the case as a multi-stage coalition formation game, it shows that an electoral alliance between the opposition parties can always be engineered regardless of how they interact in the legislature, but the cohesion of their legislative partnership must be based on the expectation that they will cooperate in the upcoming presidential election. It also argues that the key to a successful opposition alliance in the 2004 presidential election hinges on the ability to produce a profile of divisible goods for the election. Once ready, these goods must be allocated in proportion to the electoral strength of each party. The greatest obstacle for the pan-blue parties to build a joint campaign team may lie in the fact that the PFP has a better chance to deliver a viable candidate, but the party’s total weight in the opposition camp is lighter than the KMT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-national empirical studies on the effect of democracy on corruption have been inconsistent, with some studies showing a significant effect on controlling corruption and others finding an insignificant effect (Treisman 2000; Montinola and Jackman 2002; Lambsdorff 2005). On the other hand, a cross-national study shows that inequality increases corruption significantly (You and Khagram 2005). I argue that democracy's effect on corruption varies depending on the level of inequality. Democratic mechanisms of accountability should work better to curb corruption under lower levels of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how Taiwanese political parties have adjusted their candidate nomination systems since the outset of multi-party elections in the late 1980s. It is shown that there has been a great deal of variation in the degree of inner party democracy in Taiwanese parties. It is argued that inner party balance of power and election results can best explain this variation. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on electoral reform in Taiwan. It aims at assessing whether reformers crafted anticipated outcomes. Most enduring democracies of East Asia have undergone major electoral reforms for parliamentary elections since their shift to democratic rule. The basic conditions of reform and the structural outcomes are discussed by comparing the pre and post-reform elections.

Definitions of public diplomacy are presented and compared, and essential elements are extracted. The effects on modern public diplomacy of advanced communications technology, the growth of civil society, and the proliferation of democracy and the expansion of free markets are examined. These explain how the field is evolving in the current globalized era from policy-oriented approach to include a limits focus.In light of these changes, Taiwan's approach to public diplomacy is reviewed. Past programs are discussed, and new initiatives are suggested to take advantage of a limits focused approach. This has particular relevance given the recent elections in Taiwan and the consolidation of democracy following two successful, peaceful regime changes. Recommendations include centralizing public diplomacy activities in one non-partisan office, focusing more directly on generating international goodwill towards Taiwan, and limiting the options of others regarding Taiwanese issues. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of social capital suggests that high level of associational involvement among the citizens contributes to a civil society and stable democracy. According to Putnam, accumulation of social capital through social voluntarism and activism is key to promoting civic participation in a democracy (Putnam 1995, 2000). Recent research however identifies anomalies to the social capital theory among new democracies in Central America, Eastern Europe and Asia (Booth and Richard, 1998; Mishler and Rose 2001; Kim 2005, Ho and Tan 2006). In particular, Taiwan presents a special case in testing the theory. While associational life and civil engagement are generally low among the citizens, the young democracy demonstrates higher level of voting turnout, particularly during presidential elections. In this study, we examine the role of social capital in the Taiwan society with a special attention to its contribution to formation of political capital. By incorporating another social capital component of trust, we investigate the full impact of social capital within a framework of "political capital" and demonstrate that social capital could be a mixed blessing to newly democratized societies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature of transnational activism generally agrees that the North-South inequality and disparities have caused problems within TNGOs. Some hence question their equity; others worry about Southern NGOs' dependence on their Northern partners. Overall, the literature confirms both the contribution of NGOs and the importance of North-South collaboration within TNGOs. Nevertheless, the problems of democratic deficits and the North-South inequality within TNGOs are at the same time issues which are difficult yet have to be handled. This study purports to ask how the North-South relationship within TNGOs influence the capacity of their local partners in Taiwan. It hypothesizes that firstly, no matter whether the North or the South dominates TNGOs, TNGOs as arenas rather than actors provide important platforms for experience sharing and learning, which are beneficial to build local partners' comprehensive capacity building. Secondly, when the nature of issues is not highly contentious between the North and the South, the participation of Northern states in a TNGO can forge authority for Southern members and hence enhance their capacity particularly in advocating policy reform even when the Northern members do not provide physical assistance and instruction. Thirdly, as long as TNGOs remain decentralized to the extent that their local partners own adequate decision-making power and need to gather most of the funding themselves, the robustness of their local partners in Taiwan will not decline if not be strengthened. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the relationship between presidential election and referendum voting in Taiwan. It notes that the country's March 20, 2004 referendum was the island's first implementation of direct democracy at the national level. However, it raised opposition parties' doubt regarding the motivation of the government due to the fact that it was held on the same day as the presidential election. The referendum issues were then engulfed in partisan politics and electoral maneuvering.

This article describes the different variants of single-party authoritarianism. There are three distinct classes of single-party authoritarian regimes during the Third Wave, namely "closed," "hegemonic electoral," and "competitive." Among these three, competitive authoritarian dictatorship is most likely to transform into some other form of authoritarianism or to democracy. The transformation of Mexico, Senegal, and Taiwan into competitive authoritarian regimes is discussed.