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The primary objective of this paper is to gain a meaningful understanding of how security relationships develop between former colonies and their former colonizers. Identifying the conditions that prompt a former colony to reject a security partnership with its former colonizer, and, in contrast, the factors that encourage a former colony to embrace a security relationship with its former colonizer will expand one's understanding of the nature of security relations within international politics. Northeast Asia's political climate presents a fascinating case study to examine the politics of alignment. Specifically, this paper aims to first peer through the lens of Korea and Taiwan's unique colonial experiences under Japanese rule to provide historical context to understand why the ROK and Japan struggle to develop a robust military relationship despite perceiving some external threats in the region similarly, and, in contrast, why Taiwan welcomes a security partnership with Japan today. However, this does not mean that Japan and the ROK do not work together to advance each other's interests totally, nor does this study suggest that Japan and Taiwan do not face conflicts of interest. To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of Japan's relationship with Korea and Taiwan, this paper also considers how Seoul and Taipei's unique colonial experiences and contemporary security relationships with Japan affect cooperation across diplomatic channels and economic partnerships. This study also acknowledges that assessing Japan's relationships with Korea and Taiwan prior to the colonial period would be insightful, though it will focus primarily from 1895 to the present. In particular, four critical factors help to explain Japan-ROK's toxic security relationship and Japan-Taiwan's strong, albeit, de facto security partnership: 1) national identity shaped by each country's unique colonial experience under Japanese rule, 2) the United States' managerial role across both of its security triangles in Northeast Asia, 3) shared perceptions of common threats, and 4) the politics of formal military alliances versus the politics of de facto security partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study argues that, on the one hand, the reunification of China appears today mostly improbable, Yet, on the other hand, full international recognition of two Chinas remain also very unlikely in the foreseeable future. Like the Korean case, the relationship across the Taiwan Strait shows that the collapse of the Soviet bloc has not put an end to the Cold War in East Asia, or more generally to politic al and ideological rivalries which continue in other forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential risk effects of alliance commitments on dispute onset and escalation. This issue is theoretically framed as a moral hazard problem from the economic literature: if one party (agent) pledges a particular commitment to another party (principal), the moral hazard for the agent arises if the principal's behavior (e.g. a reckless move) raises the risk for an agent to act on its behalf due to its contractual commitment to the principal. In international relations, alliance commitments might pose such a moral hazard risk in the context of extended deterrence. That is, how much can the protege's behavior vis-a-vis another state actually entrap its ally ("defender") into a conflict? I separate an answer to this question into two specific issues: (1) whether states with alliance commitments from others are more likely to initiate conflicts than other states without such alliance provisions; (2) given that a conflict is initiated between the protege and its opponent, whether the protege is likely to get an aid from its ally and at what escalation level. After the conceptual and theoretical discussion, the paper proceeds with a quantitative empirical analysis and draws conclusions for current U.S. policies in cases of its relations with Taiwan in East Asia, India and Pakistan in South Asia, and Israel in the Middle East. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does electoral reform affect incumbency advantage? Does electoral reform lead more strategic voting? This study examines the questions from a comparative perspective by focusing on the variation of incumbency advantage associated with the electoral reform in Taiwan. First, I show that the reform of 2008 resulted in an unprecedented degree of discrepancy in partisan vote intention, namely Taiwanese voters were more likely to vote for the incumbents with the same party identification than before. Second, demonstrating rival models in Taiwan?s legislative elections, this study presents evidence that Taiwanese voters made their voting decisions based on different factors in pre-reform and post-reform years. Despite having other factors may also facilitate analyzing the alterations of which indicators for voters to rely on, I contend that the perception of electoral reform should be seen as a latent institutional effect which holds the major impact on the decision. Third, applying Multi-nominal Analysis to delineate the strength of relationships between different voting choices and how voters sway voting decisions. Accordingly, this study argues that the 2008 electoral reform in Taiwan benefit the incumbents more and led more strategic voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores heterogeneous economic voting behavior in Korea and Taiwan, where voters witnessed one-party dominance until recent years. Traditional economic voting literature tends to treat the electorate as homogeneous in their response to economic fluctuations. On the other hand, recent economic voting research has paid more attention to the heterogeneity of the electorate in this regard. These scholars have taken into account individual differences in class, information (sophistication), and trust in government.I pay particular attention to individual difference in individual lifetime economic experience and education. Lifetime economic experience has particular importance in a country where voters have experienced one-party dominance. Voters who experienced high economic prosperity under the dominant party are less likely to vote against the incumbent party, even when they witness a short-term economic downturn (Magaloni 1999). Therefore, I argue that voters who witnessed less economic growth over their lifetime will be more likely to be involved in economic voting. I also argue that the better educated are engaged in both sociotropic and pocketbook voting, while the less educated are more likely to be involved in only sociotropic voting.To test my arguments, I analyze recent presidential elections after democratization in Korea and Taiwan. Empirical results support my hypotheses. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the U.S. policy toward the Taiwan Strait under the administration of President George W. Bush. It puts the policy under historical perspective by examining the evolution of it. Some previous research literatures will be briefly discussed and argues that all of them cannot convincingly account for U.S. policy toward Taiwan in this time period. It proposes that there are two levels in the international system and rational actors at different levels will play different games to maximize their interests and power.

The article presents a comparative analysis of economic reforms in Bolivia, Chile, and Taiwan. This analysis demonstrates the failure of socialist economics and the success of economic liberalization and market capitalism. However, these states have pursued economic liberalization to different degrees, which accounts for the different levels of success. It is concluded that free market policies brought these countries into the forefront of the global economy.

The article presents a comparative analysis of economic reforms in Bolivia, Chile, and Taiwan. This analysis demonstrates the failure of socialist economics and the success of economic liberalization and market capitalism. However, these states have pursued economic liberalization to different degrees, which accounts for the different levels of success. It is concluded that free market policies brought these countries into the forefront of the global economy.

One of the most critically important tasks in democratizing states is reforming politically influential military into a professional and politically neutral organization. How can the armed forces that have been deeply engaged in politics in the ancien regime be transformed into a new institution that is effectively controlled by newly established democratic leadership? A predominant body of literature on democratization and civil-military relations focuses on several factors such as civilian leaders' political skills and strategies, roles of civil society, modes of regime transition, punishment of old crooks in the military, etc. But it is not easy to find a useful extant literature that explores the army's organizational structure and its influence on officers' political attitudes in democratizing societies. The research suggests that depoliticizing the armed forces and crafting firm civilian control over officers in democratizing states depends largely on whether newly elected leaders can remove factions in the military and rebuild it into a cohesive and unified institution. To test the argument, the research conducts structured-focused analysis of four Asian countries: South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. In South Korea and Taiwan, newly elected leaders successfully removed factions in the military and reorganized it into a unified body; in the Philippines and Indonesia, the armed forces still suffer from factional struggles, which in turn reinforce officers' appetite for political domination even after the democratic regime transition. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature of political development is replete with studies on the causes, processes, and outcomes of states' political development from an authoritarian polity to a democratic one. Nonetheless, several issues that are central to the study of regime transformation have been overlooked. In general, the study of political development has been hampered by 1) its emphasis on universality while overlooking historical and cultural differences across countries (Haggard and Kaufman 1995, Lipset 1959, Moore 1965) and 2) that designing single-dimensional frameworks provides only a partial examination of regime transformation (Diamond 1999, Higley and Gunther 1992, Linz 1978, Mainwaring, O'Donnell, and Valenzuela 1992). Consequently, there is a need to employ a multidimensional framework toward the study of democratization (Hay 2002, Guo 1999, Ni 1995). That is, to take a more comprehensive approach that incorporates a wide range of variables such as national legacy (Huntington 1991), political and societal institutions (Diamond 1999, Harrison and Huntington 2000, Kim 2002, Koelble 1995, Snyder and Mahoney 1999), internal and external contextual factors (Gleysteen 1999, Haggard and Webbs 1994, Kihl 2005, Munck 1994, Putnam 1993, Remmer 1995), and political actors' strategic choices (Collier and Norden 1992, Cumings 1989, O'Donnell, Schmitter, and Whitehead 1986, Prrzeworski 1991, Share and Mainwaring 1986) to examine the phenomenon of democratization as it occurs in various countries. Furthermore, theories of regime transformation suffer from a Western bias (Bermeo 1990, Hollifield and Jillson 2000) and as such might not be appropriate for the study of democratization in Asian nations such as South Korea and Taiwan. This research applies a multidimensional utilizing both macro and micro-level approaches as well as historical and contextual factors to examine regime transformation in Taiwan and South Korea. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]