This paper seeks to examine why some countries have abolished the death penalty while others choose to keep it, given their popular opinions overwhelmingly favoring this tool to pursue justice. Taking Taiwan and Singapore as cases, this study demonstrates different approaches toward this controversial issue. In contrast to Singapore’s self-confidence on exercising its sovereignty, Taiwan has been isolated from international society and thus has stronger incentives to use this issue as a means to attract attention and acknowledgement.

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 applied indiscreetly, the arguments of American political scientists in explaining Latin American cases. Secondly, others have given too much credit to the role of the dictator Jiang Jing-guo.