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Sizing Up Taiwan's Political Earthquake1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Yun-han Chu  and
Larry Diamond
Yun-han Chu
Affiliation:
National Taiwan University
Larry Diamond
Affiliation:
Hoover Institution, Stanford University
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Extract

On March 18, 2000, Taiwan experienced an electoral earthquake. After half a century in power on the island of Taiwan and eight decades of an undisrupted ruling position dating back to its heyday on the Chinese mainland, the Kuomintang (KMT) lost power in a free and fair presidential election. The power rotation at the close of the century is historic by any measure. It has closed an epoch of one-party dominance and inaugurated a period of party dealignment and realignment. It deflated Lee Teng-hui's charisma and brought his era to an abrupt and calamitous end. At the elite level, it has triggered a generational turnover, pushing the baby boomers to the forefront of governing responsibility. Most significantly, it pushed the island's political system for a major step forward toward the consolidation of democracy.

Type
Regional Report
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , February 2001 , pp. 211 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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References

Chu, Yun-han, Diamond, Larry, and Shin, Doh Chull. 2000. Growth and Equivocation in Support for Democracy: Korea and Taiwan in Comparative Perspective. A paper presented to the 2000 Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Washington, D. C. (and forthcoming as a Study in Public Policy, Center for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde).Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry. 1999. Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linz, Juan J. and Stepan, Alfred. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America and Post-Communist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar