Taiwan's Democratization a Critical Test for the International Dimensions Perspective

Laurence Whitehead

《Taiwan Journal of Democracy》 3卷2期 (2008/01) Pp. 11-32

https://doi.org/10.29654/TJD.200801.0002

並列摘要

Taiwan's twenty-year domestic history of democratic transition and (relative) consolidation fits quite comfortably within the standard parameters of the comparative democratization literature. But the trajectory and eventual outcome of the island's regime change is in fact far from standard, because the international dimensions of this democratization are so crucial and so distinctive. In fact, the Taiwanese case constitutes a critical test for several key assumptions about the role of international factors. This paper reexamines the literature on waves; snow-balling; decolonization; external conditionality; contagion; modernization; and popularity sovereignty and consent, all in the light of the crucial deviant case. The conclusion draws some inferences about democratization theory in general, including the assertion that in many cases such processes can remain ”open-ended” long after the basics of regime change have been decided. In the Taiwanese case, this open-endedness has big implications for the eventual future of democracy not only on the island but also throughout the Chinese-speaking world.

參考文獻

(2002).Democratization: Theory and Experience.Oxford:Oxford University Press.

Ben Reilly(2007).Democracy and Diversity: Political Engineering in the Asia-Pacific.Oxford:Oxford University Press.

Laurence Whitehead(2001).International Dimensions of Democratization: Europe and the Americas.Oxford:Oxford University Press.

Laurence Whitehead,Hans Antlov (ed.),Tak-Wing Ngo(2000).The Cultural Construction of Politics in Asia.Richmond, UK:Curzon Press.

Samuel Huntington(1984).Will More Countries Become Democratic?.Political Science Quarterly.99(2),193-218.