ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ever-controversial issue of Taiwanese nationalism and identity as this evolved during the Ma Ying-jiu era. Combining primordialism with constructivism, the authors investigate various forms of Taiwanese nationalism and their relationship to the concepts of ‘Taiwanese consciousness’ and ‘Taiwanese pragmatism’. Building on existing survey studies and a comprehensive set of self-gathered data, they find that the Taiwanese people display similar levels of Taiwanese consciousness and, to a certain extent, even pragmatism, regardless of their Taiwanese nationalist sentiments. The authors’ research confirms what has been claimed by other recent studies: Taiwanese nationalism, in terms of Taiwanese consciousness, has decoupled from the old ‘identity divide’ within Taiwanese society and is firmly entrenched in all the constituencies of the latter. At the same time, Taiwanese nationalism does not preclude having a pragmatic outlook on cross-Strait relations: the Taiwanese can be nationalistic while still advocating economic interaction and integration across the Taiwan Strait. Somewhat counter-intuitively, the Ma Ying-jiu era has reinforced these long-term trends instead of changing them, but some uncertainty remains as to whether such changes were ever considered by the Ma administration.
