Search

This research paper seeks to examine the importance of the 2008 Olympic Games in regards to China's foreign policy options and subsequent future behavior, with particular emphasis placed on the Taiwan issue. The primary question addressed by this paper is whether or not China will use the 2008 Olympic Games as a means of demonstrating a responsible power identity. This paper asserts three hypotheses. First, China could forgo any gains to be made by hosting the Olympic Games and take defensive-oriented action against Taiwan as a means of protecting important national interests. Second, China could use the games as a propaganda tool and take offensive-action against Taiwan as a means of pursuing an expansionist agenda. Lastly, China could choose to take no action and use the Games to demonstrate a responsible power identity. These hypotheses are tested through three historical case studies: the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan and the 1980 Moscow Games; the 1936 Berlin Games and the aggressive German expansion that began shortly thereafter; and the 1964 Tokyo Games and the 1988 Seoul Games in that both Japan and South Korea used the Games to build identities. This paper finds that although the third hypothesis is most preferable, certain factors might push China towards selecting an option closer to hypothesis one. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on communication networks suggest that network heterogeneity plays an important role in destabilizing voter preferences and demobilizing voters. In 2002, Paul A. Beck proposed his theory of partisan defection, suggesting that being embedded within in a heterogeneous network increases the likelihood of voting for a candidate from the opposite party. In 2006, Diana C. Mutz pointed out that individuals living in such networks are less likely to be active in participation. This paper tests two hypotheses derived from these theories using survey data collected in Taiwan's 2006 mayoral election in Taipei and Kaohsiung City (TEDS2006C). The findings suggest that the theory of partisan defection is partially supported by the Taipei data, but not by the Kaohsiung data. In addition, the generalization of Mutz's theory is limited as no statistically significant relationship was found between living in heterogeneous networks and unwillingness to turning out to vote, although the signs are consistent with the expectation of the theory. This paper attributes such results to contextual differences between the U.S. and Taiwan and the limitations of the data sets. It further suggests a research agenda in which to explore the effects of communication networks on voting behaviors. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to a long held belief in post-authoritarian Taiwan in the omnipotence of democracy to ensure the island's autonomy in the face of China, this paper argues that toward the end of the second Chen Shui-bian administration the 'marginal utility' of Taipei's use of democracy in garnering international sympathy has been drastically decreasing; recent examples include its failure to persuade major members of the 'liberal democratic community', the United States in particular, to support or at least acquiesce in its proposed referendum on joining the United Nations under the name of Taiwan held alongside the presidential election in March 2008. The underlying reason, however, is not found in the blame game between Taipei and Washington as to whether the United States is bowing to Chinese pressure at the expense of Taiwan's democratic deepening, or Taiwanese ruling elites' tactic of mobilising mass support is unnecessarily provocative which could end up drawing the US into an unwanted conflict with China. Rather, this paper suggests that the quarrel is indicative of the emergence of a new standard of civilisation based on the degree of democratic-ness in world politics. While mainstream security discourse in Taiwan has been deeply embedded in the binary structure of a democratic, peace-loving Taiwan versus an authoritarian, war-like China, in urging Taiwanese leaders to 'responsibly' strike a balance between promoting their political values and protecting their people's vital interests, senior US officials too unwittingly reproduce the rhetoric of democracy as civilisation. Unable to comprehend the operation of this civilised/barbarian trope in which Taiwan as a 'maturing' democracy (meaning potentially trouble-making) has been located between the West and the rest for the purpose of strategic appropriation, Taipei mistakenly believes that it has occupied the moral high ground vis-a-vis the great powers to 'go it alone' as seen in the UN referendum. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cube Law is a benchmark for the relationship between seats and votes for elections under the first-past-the-post system. Mathematically, there are two assumptions underlying the Cube Law: that the distribution of vote share at the district level is normal and that the standard deviation of the distribution is of a certain magnitude. While the first assumption is not unusual, the second begs an explanation why the standard deviation would be large enough to sustain the Cube Law. In this regard, scholars generally point to contagion or clustering in voting behavior.In this paper we argue that spatial autocorrelation can help explain the extent to which the relationship between seats and votes conform to the Cube Law. We demonstrate mathematically that an increase in the spatial autocorrelation in vote share indeed leads to an increase in its standard deviation. Empirically, we propose to investigate recent legislative elections in Taiwan and see how the spatial autocorrelation and standard deviation of vote share are related to each other and how they affect the relationship between seats and votes. We believe this project will enhance our understanding of the Cube Law. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 22, 2008, Taiwan elected a new President hence not only its domestic politics but also its relations with China have entered into a new phase. Taiwan's new President Ma Ying-jeou suggested and proposed a series of political standing points and views which are quite different with those of former President Chen Shui-bian. Compared with Chen, Ma expresses more open views on many issues, particularly on his cross-strait policy. For instance, he re-started the cross-strait negotiations which had been stopped for several years under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chen Shui-bian's rule. Taiwan therefore signed many historical agreements with China. Ma Ying-jeou suggests having more controllable and stable cross-strait relations under the insistence of Taiwan's sovereignty. However, although the cross-strait relations seem to progress towards a more positive direction, there are still some points that need to be clarified and investigated. The most outstanding point is China's attitudes to Taiwan; that is to say, China apparently separates political issues from economic ones. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate cross-strait relations by means of examining their contacts and exchanges on trade, governmental, social and security issues. That is, the author wants to examine whether Ma's policies have changed the cross-strait relations and the prospects of cross-strait relations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the 2006 Anti-Corruption Movement as an illustration, this paper investigates the (im)possibility of resistance to the formation of Taiwanese national identity as a form of domination. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the body of literature on the "clarity of responsibility" and the "incumbent alternatives for dissent" by investigating the effects of economic conditions on individual vote choice in Korea and Taiwan, nations where voters have experienced one-party dominant systems. Particularly I examine the significance of both lifetime economic experience and short-term economic conditions in Korean and Taiwanese elections. I maintain that in a society where one-party dominates individual political preferences are shaped not by short-term economic conditions but rather by individual economic experience with a dominant party. I also argue that lifetime economic experience determines individual vote choice when the succession of leadership within a dominant party is clear. Finally, once voters experience both the dominant and opposition parties in power, they vote based on their evaluations of short-term economic conditions. To test my arguments, I analyze recent presidential elections in Korea and Taiwan to study the effects of lifetime economic experience and short-term economic conditions on individual vote choice. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linking domestic & international politics, this paper offers a model of "Four-Level Nested Games" approach to Taiwan problems. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military threat was intensively used by China during Taiwan's presidential elections but is widely argued as counterproductive because it didn't prevent pro-independence candidates from winning the elections. To explain the logic of China's military threat and outcomes of the elections, this paper develops a formal framework in which China and the incumbent party has better information about the state of the world than voters and non-incumbent party. China's threat is interpreted as a way to transfer information to voters. Although she doesn't prevent the pro-independence party from being elected, China successfully prevents the winning party from declaring formal Taiwanese independence. In this way, China is always better off by issuing threats. In general, this paper not only attempts to improve our understanding of Taiwan Straight confrontation but also tries to shed new insight on the study of military threat in International Relations. It also offers a concrete game theoretic model to illustrate Putnam's two-level game metaphor. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public management and quality in the public sector have a number of unique conditions in comparison with the private sector. They presume basic preconditions, common to socio-political and administrative culture: legitimacy, the rule of law and ethical behaviour based on common values and principles such as openness, accountability, participation, diversity, equity, social justice, solidarity, collaboration and partnerships. Public policy is implemented in and by government agencies; this is the very place where the concept of good governance gets promoted first. The case study describes how qualitative performance evaluation is linked to dissemination of good governance, comparing more generally Asia with Europe in its pursuit of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Government agencies in Taiwan and Estonia differ from historic viewpoint but share the path of democratization, offering original research for comparative analysis. The study defines and contextualizes good governance by using a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and evaluates its application in administrative agencies in respective small states. The findings suggest that effective promotion of good governance in transition societies depends mostly on political will and management commitment, especially in the area of focus on people. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making is the study of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision maker. Decision making is also the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty and doubt about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them. The research methods in this study include naturalistic (unobtrusive) and recording observation and case study.On August 23, 2004, the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan passed landmark constitutional amendment proposals to cut the number of legislative seats from 225 to 113, extend terms to four years from three, adopt a "single-district, two-vote" system, ensure women half of the seats for legislators from the nationwide constituency, give people referendum rights, and abolish the National Assembly. They signify the district legislators shall be elected as the number of districts; nationwide constituency and overseas legislators shall be elected according to the list of nomination of the parties that has garnered more than 5% of the votes, Female legislators shall account for no less than one half of the elected members of each party. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan has increased its vote share in the past three legislative elections. Nevertheless, the 2004 and 2008 elections were widely viewed as major defeats for the party. Through an analysis of the DPP's performance in recent Legislative Yuan elections, this article considers the effects of electoral rules on election outcomes and the perception of those outcomes. In Taiwan, under both the previous Single Non-transferable Vote (SNTV) and the current Mixed Member Majoritarian (MMM) systems, the mechanical effect of how electoral rules translate votes into seats and the psychological impact this has on voter and party behavior have often dramatically influenced party electoral performance by causing vote and seat shares to diverge. This divergence also affects the perception of party electoral performance by causing outcomes not to meet expectations. In addition, this article analyzes the effects of recent changes to the electoral system in Taiwan and whether these changes structurally disadvantage the DPP. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science and technology policies attempting to correct for market failure in R&D efforts are now one of the most important areas of political economy. This paper focuses specifically on government-funded public-private R&D collaboration in Korea and Taiwan, making it clear that the existing East Asian developmental state discourse is no longer sufficient. Indeed, Korea and Taiwan are growing as a function of an innovation-based developmental state, confirmed with macro-level data analysis (OECD and USPTO) and comparative case study analysis. These two countries are not entirely similar, however. Comparative micro-level analysis using the unique KORTAI R&D dataset shows divergence between Korea and Taiwan in terms of industrial targeting of public research funds. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is designed to explore the impacts of democratization on people's political attitudes by examining democratic values of two generations of university students who grew up during different stages of democratization in Taiwan. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan and Taiwan have been rapidly approaching each other since the 1990s. This process, which has elevated their relations to an "unofficial-in-name-only" status, is the result of three mutually reinforcing factors: the re-imagination of colonial ties, the sharing of a democratic identity, and the permeating of popular culture. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, international relation scholars analyze the interactions of states based on the theories of realism and idealism. Recently, scholars try to explain the reasons why there is conflict or cooperation in international society by reviewing the dimensions of concepts, ideas and culture which is so called constructivism. However, as the state boundaries fall away, the contact among states are getting closer. The subject those international relation theories explain has been shifted from states toward international regimes. Some scholars interpret the practice of these international regimes by applying regime theory. The emergence of international regimes not only means the coming era of globalization, but also stands for the difference between regime members and non regime members. In addition, many states believe that they would have higher status if they could join international regimes. Therefore, it is obvious that states look for any chance to become regime members. Since the withdrawal from the UN in 1971, Taiwan has been eager to join international regimes, especially those which require governmental representatives. However, due to the obstruction that Beijing government makes, Taiwan always fails to join international regimes. After striving for several years, Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) which is one of the most important international economic regimes on January 1st 2002. As a member of WTO, when Taiwan does hard to fulfill its obligation, it is no doubt that Taiwan should possess equal status as other members and enjoy the interests that WTO brings to Taiwan. Yet, because China keeps protesting in WTO, it is not easy for Taiwan to carry out its duty and to perform as a good regime member. In WTO, the competition between Taiwan and China is everywhere and repeated. How Taiwan can find a way to solve this situation and how to protect its national interests by applying the institutional rules of WTO have become significant issues which should be taken seriously. Although the competing relation between Taipei and Beijing has not been better off after both became WTO members, in this research plan, we try to explore the possibility to see whether WTO could be a new arena where both members are able to cooperate in some issues. Furthermore, this papaer also wants to see if the economic interaction within WTO could help Taiwan and China restart dialogue in the near future. After the institutionalization and legalization, international regimes have gradually become the bridge among states. From internal perspective, regimes must defend their members’ interests, and solve the disputes and conflicts between members. Besides, international regimes have to play the role of the guard of international order from the external perspective. Furthermore, in small states’ point of view, how to interact with powerful states, gain maximum interests, and bring their influence into full play are those issues that they care about most. There is no common opinion in the international relation theories when seeing international regimes. However, even though the regime theory has developed since 1980s, it is still a question whether it is able to explain the interaction between Taiwan and China in international regimes. There might be something to be supplemented and needed more research and analysis. The core issues of my research plan are as follows: 1) the interaction between Taiwan and China within WTO: competition and cooperation; 2) what international relational theories and regime theory would say about the interaction between these two members in WTO: explanation and supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]