ABSTRACT
In my book Politicized Society: The Long Shadow of Taiwan’s One-Party Legacy, published by NIAS Press in 2011, I argued that Taiwan’s society had become structurally politicized due to a confluence of several structural factors related to the legacy of the Kuomintang (KMT) party’s long one-party rule on the island. This structural origin of Taiwan’s intense politicization was particularly evident during the eight years of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rule from 2000 to 2008. Recently, I published a second expanded and updated edition of the book that gave me an opportunity to reflect on and adjust my original argument. In this chapter, I engage with the feedback that I received on the first edition of the book and re-evaluate my argument in light of subsequent events, both in Taiwan and elsewhere. Finally, I debate how to gradually transform the structural circumstances that gave rise to Taiwan’s strong politicization; i.e. what would it take to alleviate Taiwan’s structural politicization (depoliticize society), and whether this is currently happening. I conclude that – given that Taiwan’s politicization stems from structural origins that cannot be changed overnight – this places a heavy responsibility on leading politicians and other influential people, e.g. prominent journalists and scholars, not to play up the partisan conflict. Responsible political agency and civility are pivotal in ensuring a healthy political development in Taiwan’s democracy, as elsewhere. Today both are also in short supply globally.
