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Politicized Society Offers much to an understanding of the situations of transitional democracies around the world Mattlin This book explores a relatively uncharted area of democratic transi- tions: the empirical study of intensely politicized transitional societies. Politicized In particular, it addresses the problems of prolonged democratic transitions that occur when a one-party state has been incompletely The Long Shadow of Taiwan’s One-Party Legacy dismantled. Taiwan’s gradual process of democratization has been celebrated as one of the most successful cases of political transformation. How- ever, the process was not completed after political liberalization, the advent of multi-party politics and peaceful handover of power. Since Politicized Society Society 2000, when the first non-Kuomintang president was elected, Taiwan has been marked by protracted political struggles together with an intense politicization of society. In Taiwan, many of the political prac- tices associated with representative democracy could even undermine the future sustainability of democratic politics because of the ways in which they are pursued. Election campaigning, referenda, street demonstrations, vote mobilization, opinion polls and political debate have all been distorted in the hands of intensely partisan politicians. The book maintains that institutional flaws are not enough to explain the shortcomings of Taiwan’s democratic politics or those in other transitional democracies. The political structures and practices established before the transition from one-party authoritarianism still greatly affect Taiwanese politics. Thus, when an old dominant party like the Kuomintang continues to thrive after the end of one-party rule, the process of political transition contains within itself the seeds of structural politicization. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of Taiwan- ese, Mainland Chinese and East Asian politics, as well as to those concerned with political developments in other transitional societies. Dr Mikael Mattlin lectures in world politics at the University of Helsinki. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he has specialized in Chinese politics since 1995. www.niaspress.dk Mikael Mattlin Mattlin_pbk-cover.indd 1 19/11/2010 12:43 Politicized Society Mattlin_prels.indd 1 19/11/2010 11:34 Governance in Asia Series Editor: Professor Tak-Wing Ngo, IIAS Centre for Regulation and Governance ([email protected]) Most Asian countries have experienced radical social transformation in the past decades. Some have undergone democratization yet are still plagued by problems of political instability, official malfeasance and weak administration. Others have embraced market liberalization but are threatened by rampant rent seeking and business capture. Without exception, they all face the challenge of effective governance. This new book series explores how Asian societies and markets are governed in the rapidly changing world. The new series will explore the problem of governance from an Asian perspective. It encourages studies sensitive to the autochthony and hybridity of Asian history and development, which locate the issue of governance within specific meanings of rule and order, structures of political authority and mobilization of institutional resources distinctive to the Asian context. The series aims to publish timely and well-researched books that will have the cumulative effect of developing theories of governance pertinent to Asian realities. Governance in Asia is the successor to NIAS’s ‘Democracy in Asia’ series, also edited by Tak-Wing Ngo. Mattlin_prels.indd 2 19/11/2010 11:34 Politicized Society The Long Shadow of Taiwan’s One-party Legacy Mikael Mattlin Mattlin_prels.indd 3 19/11/2010 11:34 Governance in Asia, No. 1 First published in 2011 by NIAS Press NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Leifsgade 33, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Tel (+45) 3532 9501 - Fax (+45) 3532 9549 Email: [email protected] - Website: www.niaspress.dk © Mikael Mattlin 2011 All rights reserved. Mikael Mattlin asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Mattlin, Mikael. Politicized society : the long shadow of Taiwan’s one-party legacy. -- (Governance in Asia) 1. Taiwan--Politics and government--1975- 2. Democracy-- Taiwan. I. Title II. Series 320.9’51249-dc22 ISBN: 9788776940614 (hbk) ISBN: 9788776940621 (pbk) Typeset by NIAS Press Produced by SRM Production Services Sdn Bhd and printed in Malaysia Mattlin_prels.indd 4 19/11/2010 11:34 To Kai Mattlin_prels.indd 5 19/11/2010 11:34 Mattlin_prels.indd 6 19/11/2010 11:34 Table of contents Preface and acknowledgements xi Note on Chinese characters and transliteration xv 1. Political transitions and politicization 1 Structural politicization • Transition interregnum • Chinese parties and the power-sharing problem 2. Historical origin and structure of the KMT system 29 The KMT’s turbulent mainland origin • Structure of the KMT political system and party • Organization and expansion of elections • Political changes after political liberalization 3. Power transition and the inherited power structure 79 The major battlefields • Scholars in power: changing political elite fortunes • Change of governing party and the bureaucracy • To party or not to party? • Political opportunism and party stability 4. Four cases of politicization 129 First blood: the nuclear power plant dispute • Legislative battles • Asymmetric integration and symbolic conflicts • Combining referenda and elections as a political strategy 5. Informal political structures and politicization 182 Building political support • Nested pyramid structures • Political cleavage and the patronage state • Zaoshi, psychological warfare and the theatrical side of politicization vii Mattlin_prels.indd 7 19/11/2010 11:34 6. Explaining Taiwan’s structural politicization 235 After the party • Back to China Afterword 245 Appendices 248 I. Notes on methodological choices II. R.O.C. constitutional amendments III. R.O.C. presidents, premiers and vice-premiers IV. Selected former academics who later pursued a political career Bibliography 265 Index 285 FigureS 2.1. Taiwan’s scores on political rights and civil liberties in the Freedom House survey 54 3.1. Political balance in the Legislative Yuan after elections 82 3.2. The presumed logic behind borough wardens’ choosing to campaign for the KMT 107 3.3. Development of DPP party membership 115 4.1. Legislative bills passed in each legislative session, 3rd to 6th legislatures (1996–2008) 144 4.2. Taiwanese exports to the USA vs Mainland China (including Hong Kong) 153 5.1. The political party as a nested pyramid structure 194 5.2. Two competing leaders causing a party split 195 viii Mattlin_prels.indd 8 19/11/2010 11:34 tableS 2.1. Republic of China administrative levels and elections 52 2.2. The main powers of the president and Legislative Yuan 58 3.1. Public sector size during the DPP’s first years in government 100 3.2. Party gains (losses) of candidates in council elections 111 3.3. Party gains (losses) of candidates and party-changing propensity in legislative elections 112 3.4. Candidate propensity to change nomination status after the power transition 118 5.1. Displayed financial campaign donations received by one legislative candidate 186 ix Mattlin_prels.indd 9 19/11/2010 11:34 Mattlin_prels.indd 10 19/11/2010 11:34 Preface and acknowledgements The book you are holding in your hand marks the end of a long journey. The journey began over a decade ago when I flew to Taiwan for the first time to do field research for my Master’s thesis during three months. The intellectual journey became much longer and personal than I originally anticipated. This book is the main scholarly fruit of that journey. It is the revised monograph of my doctoral dissertation Political transition and structural politicisation: The long shadow of Taiwan’s one-party legacy that I successfully defended in a public examination at the University of Helsinki in September 2008. The research for this book started out from an observation. While doing field research for my Master’s thesis, I was struck by how differently people related to politics, compared with my native Finland. While the trend in Finland, as in much of the rest of Europe, seems to generally have moved towards decreasing interest in political participation since the 1970s, whether measured by voting activity, party membership, media focus, or attitudes towards political participation, politics in Taiwan seemed to be overly active and highly charged, both during election campaigns, in media, as well as in private conversations. Early on, I labelled this phenomenon politicization, while leaving the definition of the term to be resolved later. The obvious reason for the highly charged nature of Taiwanese politics seemed to be the so-called reunification or independence issue, i.e., whether the island should reunify with the People’s Republic of China or go it alone. Yet, the pattern of politicization seemed to occur also at lower levels of politics, where this issue was not salient. Another obvious explanation would be the ‘ethnic’ issue in Taiwan, between so-called mainlanders – those who came to Taiwan from Mainland China with the remnants of the Republic of China government – and native Taiwanese, who had immigrated to the island in earlier centuries. However, again one could observe politicization also where the ethnic issue is not a major factor, for example, in local elections where candidates are all native Taiwanese.
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