ABSTRACT

This book shows that Taiwan, unlike other countries, avoided serious economic disruption and social conflict, and arrived at its goal of multi-party competition with little blood shed. Nonetheless, this survey reveals that for those who imagine democracy to be the panacea for every social, economic and political ill, Taiwan's continuing struggles against corruption, isolation and division offer a cautionary lesson.
This book is an ideal, one-stop resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of political science, particuarly those interested in the international politics of China, and the Asia-Pacific.

chapter 1|33 pages

Voting for democracy

chapter 2|21 pages

Learning to vote

The origins of Taiwan’s electoral system

chapter 6|17 pages

The watershed elections of 1989

chapter 7|30 pages

The Lee Teng-hui years (1990–1996)