Polarization, Perverse Political Strategies, and the Problems of Responding to 'Hard Times' in Taiwan
Year: 2010
Type: preprint
Abstract: During the first decade of the 21st century, politics in Taiwan became increasing polarized over the strongly interlinked issues of national identity and cross-Strait relations. Given the balance of power that existed during the 2000-2008 period, between the Pan-Green coalition led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that controlled the Executive branch under President Chen Shui-bian and the Pan-Blue coalition led by the Kuomintang (KMT) that controlled the legislature, this produced policy gridlock and increasingly vicious politics. This situation, in turn, created serious problems for Taiwan as it faced “hard times” at the dawn of the new century in two distinct areas. First, it made responding to China’s challenge to Taiwan’s sovereignty difficult because of the intense partisan dispute over what policy toward the PRC should be. Similarly, Taiwan’s growing economic integration with China over the last two decades meant that any discussion of economic policy, which became vital at the time of the Great Recession of 2008-10, quickly became inflamed with the emotional battle over national identity. Yet, the vicious polarization over national identity does not appear to have been preordained as the central dynamic in Taiwan politics. Indeed, the “median” voter appears to be in a moderate middle on this issue rather than falling into two bipolar extremes. This paper, then, examines the strident debate over national identity.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Authors: Caleb Clark, Alexander C. Tan
Institution: University of Canterbury
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1527228918