The phenomenon of divided government－that is, the executive and legislative branches are controlled by different political parties－has become daily reality in Taiwan’s notional and local politics. Yet it receives relatively little attention from a comparative perspective. In the literature, scholars tend to disagree with each other concerning whether divided government leads to policy gridlock...
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Volume #4, Number #1
Volume #4, Number #1
Democratic transition has been one of the most researched topics in the American political science in the past several decades. As Taiwanese politics was transformed in the late 1980’s to democracy, the case also gained wide attention from both the American and local scholars. This paper points out that the literature on democratic transition in Taiwan case, some have followed too closely, or...
Volume #3, Number #1
This paper tries to uncover the most significant factor determining the outcome of the Taipei Mayoral Election in 1994. The previous research has discovered that the voting decision of the electorate in Taiwan was to a large extent determined by party affiliation. In addition, the ruling KMT has gained a lions share of partisanship among the electorate. This situation did not change much in...
Volume #3, Number #1
To elaborate the dynamics of the general mass attitudes in Taiwan toward the Unification-Independence issue, we explore both aggregate group behavior and individual level heterogeneity by converting consecutive cross-sectional data into a time-dependence structure. Apart from the current static models, these pseudo-panel analyses identify the relations between Elites' Rhetoric and the...
Volume #3, Number #1
Three perspectives have been prevalent in explaining the rapid growth of rural industry in China: producer cooperative, local government ownership, and market transition. This article contends that the first two approaches do not hold empirically. Instead, the market transition can better interpret the dynamics of the Chinese development. However, it lacks a comprehensive framework for the...
Volume #3, Number #1
How is social order possible? We can find that the Bunun of Taketonpu effectively used the principle of mabeedasan (consensus without dissidence) to select their Lisigadan Ius-an and Lavian so as to maintain their politico-social order under Japanese colonial rule. Everybody could obtain three kinds of power respectively through different kinds of exchange: isipawuvaif, isipsaif, and ishnoo....
Volume #3, Number #1
The purpose of this article is to address the role and status of policy discourse in policy change. Basically, policy change is assumed to be the interactive effects of three streams of force: deconstruction, construction and strengthened original structure. These three streams of force are expressed by policy actors through policy discourses during the policy making process. Hence, the...
Volume #2, Number #1
Common understanding and previous studies tend to show that nationalized curriculum and education system have a strong unifying effect on the forming of national identity. Taiwan had been under authoritarian rule with a strong emphasis on nationalistic ideology enforced from above; but nationalistic unity in Taiwan in recent years has been divisive, reflecting people's different standings...
Volume #2, Number #1
Existing studies on single nontransferable voting system under multi-member district (SNTV-MMD) have focused mainly on its proportionality and consequences and paid little attention to its changeablility. When Japan did replace it with a new electoral system in 1994, most works ascribed the reform to the discontent toward corruption induced by the old system. Such a theory accounted for...
Volume #2, Number #1
Vote-buying has long been a wide -spread phenomenon in elections on Taiwan. It is most commonly practiced by the Kuomintang candidates. This essay analyzes the making and operation of the vote - buying machine of a KMT candidate. The information is collected from participant observation and in-depth interview of the KMT campaigners of different ranks. The article claims that local factions are...