ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that constraints to cultural and linguistic recognition in Taiwan owe to political rather than cultural and sociolinguistic factors. It explains the dynamics of culture politics and language recognition in Taiwan. The book reviews mainstream approaches to the study of culture politics and language recognition, with a particular focus on David Laitin's work. It also reviews developments in language policy, identity and party politics up to the period of democratization and the end of Lee Teng-hui's (KMT) presidency in 2000. The book offers a more exhaustive treatment of Taiwanization, ethnic policy and identity politics under Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government. It also surveys bureaucratic initiatives to linguistic revitalization by exploring the cases of local language education and standardization from the late 1990s through to the 2000s.
