ABSTRACT
The economic development of Taiwan—from a poverty stricken country in 1950 to one of today’s high-income countries—is a spectacular success story. A small (21 million inhabitants) and diplomatically isolated island, it has become the twelfth trading nation. These economic achievements have fueled the rise of a rights-conscious middle class which contributed to the smooth transition toward democracy and the first direct presidential election ever held in a Chinese state in 1996.
