Testing the market-oriented model of political parties in a non-Western context: The case of Taiwan

Multi-party politics are a relatively new phenomenon in Taiwan. Its first democratic parliamentary and presidential elections were held as recently as 1991 and 1996 respectively. Taiwan is the sole example of a Chinese multiparty democracy and compared to other new democracies has relatively institutionalized political parties. Moreover, since numerous restrictions on campaigning practices were lifted, Taiwan’s parties have rapidly embraced many of the marketing techniques associated with the American model of political communication.