(iPoster) Theorizing Democracy in Taiwan

• In Event: Poster Session: Foundations of Political Theory 3 (Critical); Education Politics and Policy; & Political Science Education
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Foundations of Political Theory 3 (Critical)

Abstract

In light of the dire existential threat posed by a potential invasion of Taiwan by China, news coverage of the island-nation tends to focus on potential military strategies: is Taiwan willing to fight? Is America willing to help? Yet obscured from these discussions about Taiwan’s future are any concrete examples of why we ought to be concerned with Taiwan beyond the protection of its computer chip industry. This paper instead argues for the value of understanding Taiwanese democracy itself, the theoretical framework for which emerges uniquely from an amalgamation of Eastern and Western resources within the history of political thought. The paper develops an account of Taiwanese democracy through three stages. First, it examines ancient precedents for Chinese "democracy," discussed in the longest extant text from the Warring States period (453-221 BCE), the Zuozhuan 左傳 (in English, The Commentary of Zuo), often ignored (or dismissed) by sinologists and political theorists alike. Next, it considers Sun Yat-sen’s transformation of Chinese "democracy" (min zhu 民主) into the "people’s sovereignty" (min quan 民權) after the 1911 overthrow of the Qing dynasty, which lays the groundwork for Taiwan’s modern constitution. Finally, the paper looks to Taiwan in the present, relying on original ethnographic field work from 2018 to reveal a picture of how modern-day Taiwanese habits and modes of expression naturally incorporate and develop Sun Yat-sen’s model of democracy today. Ultimately, we should be concerned about Taiwan’s future not because it resembles our politics (as empirical political science today might assume) but because it challenges, in a democratic way, what we take our politics to be.

Author

• Leland Stange