Taiwan: A Political History / Edition 1

by Denny Roy

Overview

This is a history that provides excellent background information for understanding the complexities of the current 'Taiwan problem.'. ― Foreign Affairs

For centuries, various great powers have both exploited and benefited Taiwan, their designs for this island frequently clashing with the desire of local inhabitants to control their own destiny. Such conflicts have shaped Taiwan's multiple, and frequently contradictory, identities. Denny Roy contends that Taiwan's political history is best understood as a continuous struggle for security. Eschewing the usual emphasis on the high politics of the recent era, he offers a comprehensive narrative of the island's political history from the first Chinese settlements to the Chen Shui-bian presidency.

Roy covers the political system constructed by the KMT during the Cold War, the opposition breakthrough, the presidency of Lee Teng-hui, and the DPP presidential victory in March 2000. Roy's approach allows him to integrate his understanding of Taiwan's domestic politics with its foreign affairs—particularly the relations with mainland China. He reveals how the interplay between political forces within and the influence of foreign countries from without has shaped Taiwan. His is a balanced account, incorporating up-to-date coverage and presenting many indigenous voices.

Taiwan: A Political History illuminates the origins of the island's often-troubled domestic and international political situation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801488054
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	12/16/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	730,655
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Denny Roy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. His previous books include China's Foreign Relations.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Chronology of Major Events	xi
	Introduction	1
1	Taiwan's Early History	11
2	The Japanese Occupation	32
3	The Return of Mainland Rule	55
4	Martial Law and Kuomintang Domination	76
5	Taiwan in the Cold War	105
6	The Opposition's Struggle and Breakthrough	152
7	Taiwan under Lee Teng-hui	183
8	The DPP Captures the Presidency	227
9	Taiwan's History and Taiwan's Future	241
	Index	247

What People are Saying About This

Gary D. Rawnsley

Anyone wishing to read a compelling and thorough history of Taiwan will do no better than turn in the first instance to Denny Roy's new volume. Its aspiration is simple: to trace the political development of Taiwan from Chinese outpost and contested European colony to twenty-first-century democracy. Applying a broad-brush approach, Taiwan is a careful synthesis of the published research with few surprises for the specialist, but the book will appeal most to the non-specialist and the student market.... There are no superior introductions to Taiwan's extraordinary political development, and this is a useful teaching text.

Shelley Rigger

This comprehensive, accurate, and very readable account of Taiwan's road to democratization puts contemporary developments in historical context. Specialists, students, policy-makers, and general readers alike will enjoy Denny Roy's lucid and engaging telling of this extraordinary story.

A. Maria Utley

Denny Roy's sympathetic yet discerning approach begins by relating the often underrepresented description of pre-Dutch colonialism's impact on Taiwan.... Roy concludes with a current profile of Taiwan's political climate and disposition toward independence from mainland China, including many of the implications that this debate involves.

Vincent Wei-cheng Wang

Denny Roy's useful and sensible approach not only underscores many of the dilemmas evident in Taiwan's development experience, but also helps bridge this case study with themes in mainstream political science.

From the Publisher

Roy's study focuses on Taiwan's 18th-century historywith emphases on the Japanese occupation (1895-1945), return of Chinese rule under the Kuomintang (including martial law administration), Taiwan's status in the Cold War, and democratization in the 1980s.... This is a readable and well-argued interpretation of Taiwan's recent history. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels.—Choice, February 2004

Macabre Krier

Every few years a new attempt is made to write the story of Taiwan's political and diplomatic history.... Denny Roy's new work, Taiwan: A Political History, goes well beyond any single volume that has yet come out, presenting the most complete historical analysis to date of the island.... Articulate and accessible.

Editorial Reviews

This is a history that provides excellent background information for understanding the complexities of the current 'Taiwan problem.'.

Foreign Affairs

This is a history that provides excellent background information for understanding the complexities of the current 'Taiwan problem.'.

-- "Foreign Affairs"

From the Publisher