State And Society In The Taiwan Miracle

Explores the application of constructivist theory to international relations. The text examines the relevance of constructivism for empirical research, focusing on some of the key issues of contemporary international politics: ethnic and national identity; gender; and political economy.

This volume arises from a major conference on issues of importance to the future of Taiwan and the region. With contributions by scholars from Taiwan and the West, the book is divided into sections on: political reform and development on Taiwan, Taiwan's changing political economy, social and environmental issues on Taiwan, Taiwan external relations and the future of Taiwan-PRC relations. Among the many issues addressed within this framework are the evolution of democracy, local politics, Taiwan and the international division of labour, the labour movement, environmentalism, international commercial links and the role of the United States in Taiwan-PRC relations.

Most colonies became independent countries after the end of World War II, while few of them became modernized even after decades of their independence. Taiwan is one of the few to become a modern state with remarkable achievements in its economic, socio-cultural, and political development. This book addresses the path and trajectory of the emergence of Taiwan from a colony to a modern state in the past century.

This book is part of a broad examination of Confucianism and its implications for modernization of the Confucian regions (covering mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Singapore). It is mainly concerned with the industrialization and modernization of Taiwan. To help readers understand the process of modernization, the book provides an introduction to the history of Taiwan and to Confucianism and its modern implications. As far as social and economic principles are concerned, Taiwan's modernization is, according to the author, characterized by Americanization and modernizing Confucian manifestations. The book demonstrates that Taiwan has actually provided an important case study not only for the capitalist spirit of overseas Chinese, but also for possible implications of Confucianism for modernization. The unique character of this book is that in explaining Taiwan's modernization, it deals not only with economic and social issues, but also examines the philosophical foundations, an endeavor which no other author has systematically made before.

Known as the Taiwan Miracle, the Republic of China on Taiwan (R.O.C.) has, over the past thirty-five years, experienced one of the world's highest rates of economic growth. Arguing that major theoretical frameworks for analyzing international political economy are often too simplistic in that they omit key factors or overly generalize from relationships found only in limited situations, Clark uses a detailed case history of the R.O.C. to suggest not only that development and dependency in contemporary society are extremely complex and indeterminate processes, but that development in Taiwan deviates significantly from the postulates of the two leading paradigms of international political economy. To go even further, Clark states that Taiwan's economic growth and transformation resulted from its deviation from the normal dependency syndrome. Indeed, a development strategy based on economic flexibility and periodic regime change that has made this flexibility possible are hallmarks in Taiwan's success story. The United States and other advanced industrial economies whose past successes have created economic and political barriers to future adaptation can be better understood in terms of the characteristics of R.O.C.'s development strategy. Part I of the three-part work focuses on environment, first discussing various paradigms and theories about development and then presenting an historical overview of Taiwan. The second part investigates Taiwan's international role, political development, and rapid economic growth. The volume closes with a chapter devoted to the implications of the Taiwan experience and political economy paradigms. Eight figures and thirty-five tables illustrate facets of Taiwan's development, including government structure, indicators of agricultural development, industrialization, educational progress, and export performance, among others. Because of the detailed presentations of political economy theories and their variants, especially in relation to economic and political development in Taiwan, this volume would be an excellent choice for courses in political economy, developing societies, Asian politics, and international relations theory, as well as libraries serving students in these areas.

In this newly revised and updated edition of Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? John F. Copper examines Taiwan's geography and history, society and culture, economy, political system, and foreign and security policies in the context of Taiwan's uncertain political status as either a sovereign nation or a province of the People's Republic of China. Copper argues that Taiwan's very rapid and successful democratization suggests Taiwan should be independent and separate from China, while economic links between Taiwan and China indicate the opposite. New to the sixth edition is enhanced coverage of the issues of immigration; the impact of having the world's lowest birthrate; China's economic and military rise and America's decline; Taiwan's relations with China, the United States, and Japan; and the KMT's (Nationalist Party) return to power. The new edition will also examine the implications of the 2012 presidential election. A selected bibliography guides students in further research.

The rapid growth of Taiwan's postwar miracle economy is most frequently credited to the leading role of the state in promoting economic development. Megan Greene challenges this standard interpretation in the first in-depth examination of the origins of Taiwan's developmental state. Greene examines the ways in which the Guomindang state planned and promoted scientific and technical development both in mainland China between 1927 and 1949 and on Taiwan after 1949. Using industrial science policy as a lens, she shows that the state, even during its most authoritarian periods, did not function as a monolithic entity. State planners were concerned with maximizing the use of Taiwan's limited resources for industrial development. Political leaders, on the other hand, were most concerned with the state's political survival. The developmental state emerged gradually as a result of the combined efforts of technocrats and outsiders, including academicians and foreign advisors. Only when the political leadership put its authority and weight behind the vision of these early planners did Taiwan's developmental state fully come into being. In Taiwan's combination of technocratic expertise and political authoritarianism lie implications for our understanding of changes taking place in mainland China today.

"Easily the most informed and comprehensive analysis to date on how and why East Asian countries have achieved sustained high economic growth rates, this book] substantially advances our understanding of the key interactions between the governors and governed in the development process. Students and practitioners alike will be referring to Campos and Root's series of excellent case studies for years to come." Richard L. Wilson, The Asia Foundation Eight countries in East Asia--Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia--have become known as the "East Asian miracle" because of their economies' dramatic growth. In these eight countries real per capita GDP rose twice as fast as in any other regional grouping between 1965 and 1990. Even more impressive is their simultaneous significant reduction in poverty and income inequality. Their success is frequently attributed to economic policies, but the authors of this book argue that those economic policies would not have worked unless the leaders of the countries made them credible to their business communities and citizens. Jose Edgardo Campos and Hilton Root challenge the popular belief that East Asia's high performers grew rapidly because they were ruled by authoritarian leaders. They show that these leaders had to collaborate with various sectors of their population to create an environment that was conducive to sustained growth. This required them to persuade the business community that their investments would not be expropriated and to convince the broader population that their short-term sacrifices would be rewarded in the future. Many of the countries achieved business cooperation by creating consultative groups, which the authors call deliberation councils, to enhance accountability and stability. They also obtained popular support through a variety of wealth-sharing measures such as land reform, worker cooperatives, and wider access to education. Finally, to inhibit favoritism and corruption that would benefit narrow interest groups at the expense of broad-based development, these countries' leaders constructed a competent bureaucracy that balanced autonomy with accountability to serve all interests, including the poor. This important book provides useful lessons about how developing and newly industrialized countries can build institutions to implement growth-promoting policies.

Throughout the twentieth century Taiwan was viewed as a model - whether in terms of a model colony, a model China or a development model. This perception was based on the notion of Taiwan undergoing an economic miracle and political developments. Yet much of Taiwan’s history is unique and may not be readily replicable elsewhere. Written by an impressive line up of contributors from the US, UK, Taiwan, France and Hong Kong, this book analyzes Taiwan’s economic and political achievements, and asks whether it is possible to identify through the experience of a single nation – Taiwan – the makings of a replicable model. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Taiwan, political economy, and Asia-Pacific regional development issues.

Much has been written about the 'Taiwan miracle'--referring to the extremely successful, widely praised and often emulated economic development of the Republic of China. Less has been written about Taiwan's political development, which in the past dozen or so years has been even more dramatic in many ways. In just three to four decades, the Republic of China's polity has been transformed from an authoritarian, closed system to a democracy. It did this without a contributing colonial experience and while living under the threat of invasion. This book assesses Taiwan's political modernization during a period when political change in Taiwan was remarkable both for its pace and for its impact on Taiwan's polity. During this time Taiwan became a paradigm for success in political modernization. Internal political reform was the most salient part of the modernization process. Elections likewise played an essential role. Finally, an effective foreign policy facilitated the process and vice versa. Students of the process of political development can and should learn much from Taiwan's experiences.