ABSTRACT
After its retreat from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949, the Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang or KMT) controlled almost every aspect of the country, making Taiwan a single-party authoritarian regime. Although the fight against this authoritarian regime never ceased, not until 1986 was the opposition force strong enough to form an opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to mobilize a nationwide challenge to the KMT. In 1987, one year after the DPP’s birth, President Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law, and the process of democratic transformation began in Taiwan.
