More or Less Space for Identity in Taiwan's Party Politics?

A review of the political science literature on Taiwan reveals a high degree of focus on issues pertaining to the island’s national identity (Fell 2008). Areas that have received the greatest academic attention include the electoral politics of the identity issue, measurement of national identity, and cross-Strait relations. At times, the field appears so saturated that it is not surprising to hear the complaint of suffering from “national identity fatigue” (Fell 2001: 92). Most writers working on Taiwan would endorse Hsieh and Niou’s assertion that national identity “is the most controversial and divisive issue” in Taiwanese politics (Hsieh and Niou 1996). Nevertheless, empirical evidence from the 1990s raises doubts over the levels of the predominance of identity politics. Issue salience surveys found that voters tended to rank identity-related issues far lower on their scale of importance than economic, welfare and social order questions (Lin 1998: 579). Similarly, content analysis research found that even the parties themselves placed far greater emphasis on issues related to social welfare and political corruption than national identity (Fell 2005a: 18–27). ¹ Although the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) identity appeals did play a critical role in its development, it could not have broadened its support base sufficiently to win ruling party status without its use of anti-corruption, social welfare, environmental and gender equity appeals in the 1990s.