ABSTRACT
The world systems perspective (WSP) proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein has been invoked to describe and explain political and economic developments in all parts of the world. This chapter seeks to apply Wallerstein's perspective to Taiwan's modern history. The WSP is unique in that it uses the world system, not nation-states, as the unit of analysis, and it focuses on patterns of long-term and large-scale social transformation. It was the Dutch who incorporated Taiwan into capitalist world system. The Dutch colonization of Taiwan resulted from European competitions in Far East and Dutch desire to trade with China. The Dutch rule in Taiwan led to conflicts with the aborigines, Japanese, and Spaniards. Only in the late seventeenth century did the Chinese start to rule Taiwan. First, Zheng Chenggong, a regional warlord, pushed the Dutch out of Taiwan in 1662 and later Qing exercised direct control from 1683–1895. American and then Japanese investments have dominated foreign direct investment (FDI) in Taiwan since 1966.
