Taiwan's politics in the 21st century : changes and challenges / edited by Wei-Chin Lee.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Taiwan's Politics in the 2000s: An Introduction (W-C Lee) -- Political Development: -- Is the Guomintang Invincible? (J F-S Hsieh) -- The Democratic Progressive Party: From Opposition to Power, and Back Again (S Rigger) -- Trust in Institutions and the Democratic Consolidation in Taiwan (H-Y Shyu) -- Political Economy: -- Taiwan Enters the 21st Century: A Rude Awakening to the Costs of Success (C Clark and A C Tan) -- From Imitator to Innovator: The Political Economy of Industrial Upgrading in the 21st Century (J Wong) -- Taiwan{u2013}US{u2013}China Relations: -- Symbolic Politics, Self-Interests and Threat Perceptions: An Analysis of Taiwan Citizens' Views on Cross{u2013}Strait Economic Exchanges (T Y Wang and others) -- Beijing's Shifting Positions in the New Era of Cross{u2013}Taiwan Strait Relations (Q-S Zhao and G-L Liu) -- Sound and Fury: The United States{u2013}Taiwan Relations Under Chen Shui-Bian in the 2000s (W-C Lee) -- Taiwan's Participation in Asia{u2013}Pacific Region Processes: Searching for an Agenda of Cross{u2013}Strait Consultations (C Lee)

This unique volume highlights Taiwan's ongoing efforts to mediate between competing political actors, a means to ensure domestic stability and national security without severely affecting its continuous economic growth and sovereign status in international society. Taiwan's Politics in the 21st Century concentrates on three general areas: domestic politics, political economy, and external relations. Written by prominent scholars in the field, including John Hsieh, Shelley Rigger, Cal Clark, Alex Tan, Joseph Wong, T Y Wang, Quansheng Zhao, Guoli Liu, and Chyungly Lee. It also provides an overview of Taiwan's process of democratic consolidation, unravels dynamic interactions among various domestic and international actors in policy design and implementation, and explores future challenges to Taiwan, thus leaving readers with a better understanding of the political complexity of Taiwan's attempts to strengthen its democratic governance and institutions.