Taiwan’s new MMM legislative electoral system first implemented in 2008 was a sharp departure from the half-century long SNTV system. This paper examines effects of knowledge of the new electoral system on citizens’ decisions to vote or not to vote. Existing literature on voting either assumes that voters are fully aware of the electoral system and thus ignores the effect of knowledge or at...
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Volume #16, Number #1
Volume #16, Number #1
In the trajectory of Taiwan’s democratization, the judicial system has long been entangled in the political conflict, and the general public does not seem to trust the judiciary to be independent of political influences. Some folk sayings about the courts reveal the negative stereotypes of vote-buying verdicts; for example, “the courts are dominated by the Kuomintang;” “at the first trial a...
Volume #16, Number #1
Existing legislative theories, which are developed to explain legislative dynamics in the U.S. Congress, presumes the existence of a majority party in a legislature and fails to provide predictions about positive agenda power of a majority under various degree of intra-party homogeneity and inter-party heterogeneity. Offering a theory of legislative majority coalition to explain its positive...
Volume #16, Number #1
This paper will point out that the rise of judicial politics is a new phenomenon in Taiwan. However, unlike law scholars who characterize Taiwan’s Constitutional Court justices as Taiwan’s top constitutional reformers, I will contend that the rise of judicial politics is attributable mostly to the judicial reform led by young judges and prosecutors from the bottom of the judicial hierarchy....
Volume #15, Number #2
China’s rapid economic growth has led to a dramatic increase in electricity demand. This is one of the reasons why hydropower is now playing a major role in China’s energy sector strategy, turning Yunnan Province with its huge hydropower reserves into a crucial power supplier for the country’s booming eastern and southern coastal regions. However, Yunnan does not only have important mineral...
Volume #15, Number #2
Indigenous hunting and its impact on wildlife represents one of the most critical and controversial issues in Taiwan. This study aims to investigate the interplay between governmental conservation institutions and indigenous hunting norms in an anonymous Truku area. The empirical results show that, over the long term between the 1970s and mid-2000s, socioeconomic change has played a pivotal...
Volume #15, Number #2
Social welfare is concerned with the provision of a public good. This paper is concerned with the political logic behind the provision of this public good. It uses empirical data to evaluate the functionalist view in modernization theory, the democracy promotion view in citizenship and social rights theory, and finally the more recent non-institutionalist social capital view. Each of these...
Volume #15, Number #2
China’s drive toward reform and modernization over the past 30 years has not only led to rapid economic growth, but has also created new opportunities for social change. The dramatic changes and significant consequences stirred by the development of social organizations have drawn much attention to the subject. Existing studies on the state-society relationship remain largely dominated by the...
Volume #15, Number #2
The core issue of cross-Strait relations lies in the debate over sovereignty. This study targets Mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan for a short period of time as research subjects. Through questionnaires, the impact of political attitudes on the acceptance of Taiwanese sovereignty is investigated. This study’s research findings show that the acceptance of Taiwanese sovereignty by...
Volume #15, Number #1
This article deals with the political thought of Yin Wen Zi. We leave open the question of the academic school to which this text belongs as well as the question of when this text had been written down.
We find the core thesis of Yin Wen Zi is to make clear boundaries in all dimensions of public affairs. We also realize that the understanding above dwells on the epistemological concern...