ABSTRACT
This chapter will first introduce the main political parties that have dominated Taiwan politics since the late 1980s and how they compare with parties in other democracies. Taiwan’s main parties have joined international party organizations such as Liberal International. But do they really fit into such party typologies? There will be sections on their organizational structure, ideologies, party image, leadership, candidate selection methods and inner party balances of power. The success and failure of Taiwan’s smaller challenger parties will also be discussed. Next, I will examine how scholars have explained change within the main parties. The remainder of the chapter will focus on Taiwan’s changing party system. This will cover changes to the main dimensions of the party system, such as party system fragmentation, ideological distance, inter-party relations and the openness of the party system to new entrants. In the concluding section I will gauge the increasing popular dissatisfaction with Taiwanese parties and the challenges hindering the development of a well-functioning party system.
