ABSTRACT
Taiwan stands at a pivotal point in its political and historical evolution. As the authors of this volume make abundantly clear, Taiwan is in the process of consolidating its democratic form of government. After emerging from decades of one-party rule, Taiwan has joined the democratic family of nations. Because of the recency of its democratic transition and the many political and economic challenges Taiwan faces in the coming years, the final structure and composition of Taiwan’s political and electoral systems are still some years in the offing The authors’ descriptions of the most important issues facing the Taiwanese people and their political system now allows us to better understand how these challenges may be met and what the future holds for Taiwan. As well, the authors call attention to important gaps in our understanding of Taiwanese electoral politics and are thus suggestive of a number of opportunities for future research.
