Political entrepreneurship and the Ko-P phenomenon in Taiwan’s democratization*

Taiwan’s economic modernization and political democratization after World War II have been praised as good examples for emerging countries. As of 2014, Taiwan has successfully gone through four direct presidential elections and two rounds of peaceful transfer of power. However, continuing sectarian quarrels between the ruling Kuomintang and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party cast doubt on the suitability of democracy for a Confucian society. This pessimism is challenged by the emergence of a new political star. A political novice, Ko Wen-je (aka Ko-P), won a landslide victory in the 2014 Taipei mayoral election, which is seen as a phenomenon. It has significant political implications and has so far inspired changes in the political landscape. The adoption of entrepreneurial strategies, such as identifying problems, leading by example, and team creation, are unprecedented in Taiwan’s political campaign. The Ko-P phenomenon demonstrates a self-correcting mechanism in Taiwan’s political system and bodes well for the future of new democracies, particularly for the Greater China Region.     

An Alternative Understanding of Political Participation: Challenging the Myth of Political Indifference in Hong Kong

Abstract

The characterization of Hong Kong's political culture as one of indifference deserves further examination as the inquiries conducted by proponents of the indifference framework have all used a narrow definition of political participation. This paper begins with a critique of the inherent narrowness of orthodox definitions of political participation: political participation as acts making demands on a government; as lawful activities; and as activities vis‐a‐vis one government. Contrast these assumptions, the author contends that political participation needs to be understood as activities that include both making demands on and showing support for a government, as well as both lawful and unlawful activities. Furthermore, the author refutes the one‐government‐locus theme of the orthodox concept and proposes a three‐government‐loci theme that is more relevant to the historical experience of the colonial Hong Kong. The political relevance of the social domain and its implications on broadening the definition of political participation are discussed. Finally, the author argues for the importance of considering discursive participation as a form of political participation in Hong Kong.     

Armed Groups as Political Parties and Their Role in Electoral Politics: The Case of Hizballah

In recent decades, armed groups have shown an increased interest in creating political parties to take part in institutional politics. By using these political wings to participate in elections and win public office, some of them have gained enormous political power. However, despite the important real-world implications of this trend, the existing literature on the topic is still underdeveloped. This article contributes to a better understanding of this subject by examining the factors that motivate armed groups to set up a political wing and compete in elections and by assessing how political participation affects an armed group's strategic outlook. The hypotheses on political wing formation and development are tested by analyzing the decision-making patterns of Hizballah. The findings suggest that the political involvement of armed groups does not follow a linear development process from armed to political organization, but instead assumes cyclical patterns: political accommodation and armed struggle are chosen in turn in response to shifts in the relation and the internal balance of power between a given group's political and armed wings.     

From the provinces to the parliament: How the Ukrainian radical right mobilized in Galicia

This article traces the on-the-ground mobilization and recruitment strategies of Ukraine's radical right party, Svoboda (Freedom) in the years prior to its 2012 electoral breakthrough. Ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews with Svoboda party leaders and activists in Galicia show how party leaders strategically created an organizational structure aimed at recruiting young people, making linkages with pre-existing nationalist groups, and shifting the ideological focus away from cultural and toward economic issues. Interviews with party activists reveal how personal networks were key in the recruitment and radicalization process, showing that radical right activists were radicalized, or “made,” through political participation. Consequently, Svoboda's organizational capacity allowed the party to take advantage of a political opportunity – Yanukovych's unpopularity and weakened national democratic parties – in the 2012 parliamentary elections.     

Voting home or abroad? Comparing migrants' electoral participation in countries of origin and of residence

The political participation of immigrants has received increased scholarly attention over recent decades. However, comparisons between the electoral behavior of immigrants in their countries of origin and of residence are still limited. This article addresses this gap in the literature and seeks to identify the determinants of Romanian immigrants’ electoral participation in the local elections of four West European countries (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain) as compared to their turnout in their home country's legislative elections. Looking through the lenses of exposure theory, we hypothesize that contact with institutions, people, and values from the countries of residence are likely to have different effects in the two types of elections. We test the explanatory power of four main variables – time spent in the host country, social networks, degree of involvement in the local community, and the type of relationship with citizens of their host countries – to which we add a series of individual-level controls such as age, education, gender, and media exposure. To assess our claim, we employ binary logistic regression to analyze original web survey data collected in the summer of 2013. The result supports the empirical implications of exposure theory.     

Engaging Insurgency: The Impact of the 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement on FARC's Political Participation

The 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army (the FARC-EP or FARC) commits to reforming political participation, especially of traditionally marginalized sectors throughout the country to consolidate Colombian democracy. While the Peace Agreement provides implementation mechanisms that support the insurgency's transition from armed group to political party, it also complements the FARC's political strategy that has traditionally maintained consistency. This article argues that the 2016 Peace Agreement has the potential to enhance democratic, political, and societal participation by engaging with FARC in two key ways—by attempting to reconcile key FARC grievances and containing specific mechanisms that increase participation of traditionally marginalized groups in Colombia. This article argues that the Agreement has impacted positively on FARC's political participation and given it incentives to pursue its political strategy democratically. Likewise, the Agreement has provided a positive-sum outcome for the Colombian government to strengthen its democratic legitimacy by placing emphasis on structural reform.     

Dissecting the Attitudes of Political Science Students Towards Democracy and the 2004 Elections in Indonesia

Students’ attitudes towards Indonesia's transition from an authoritarian era to democracy varied from strong support for the democratic transition to nostalgia for the authoritarian era's strong leadership and economic prosperity. A sample of 317 students from three Indonesian universities was asked to rate the importance of political, economic, legal and social democratic principles. In addition to concerns about corruption, economic decline and security, students differed significantly centring on the importance of legitimate elections, representation, tolerance, accountability, human rights and gender equality. The majority of students were pessimistic about the elections; paradoxically some students optimistic about the general elections rated democratic principles the least important. After discussing the implications, political attitudes about democracy and elections were related to cognitive consistency and dissonance theory.     

Political Evangelism

In 2000, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 called for the increased participation of women in formal political processes surrounding violent conflict. However, worldwide, women continue to be a minority in formal politics, particularly in situations of armed violence. Contrary to this trend, women have played an influential role in the Casamance peace process in southern Senegal, where a rebel movement has been fighting for independence since 1982. This article assesses the methodology, constraints and, most importantly, the gendered opportunity structures surrounding the women's peace movement in Casamance. It demonstrates how women participate in the politics of war and peace through an astute manipulation of gendered platforms and a judicious reading of political context, thus propelling their voices into the formal political arena. This case study highlights practical and local approaches to political participation that may be relevant to women around the world.     

The rules of capitalism

This paper discusses the background to the Palestinian elections and highlights the fact that they are the first democratic elections since 1996. It discusses the reasons for Hamas's participation and the problems it faced. It also examines what issues the electoral candidates needed to touch on in order to win the election. The paper highlights the fact that Fatah's days are over because of widespread corruption. It touches on how Hamas now needs to deal with the international community and how it can compromise with Israel. The paper emphasises that Hamas is the people's choice and that, because it has many obstacles ahead of it, the international community needs to allow it time and to monitor its progress, watching how it deals with being in the real political realm.     

从政治营销的视角看台湾民主：以民进党的实力消长为例

20世纪90年代以来，台湾社会的民主化发展取得了相当重要的成就，两次政党轮替已经使台湾民主逐步走向成熟。但是，台湾民主的发展仍然存在诸多问题，台湾民主的“异化”现象更是备受关注。在台湾民主日益成熟且相对稳定的情况下，深入理解台湾民主“异化”的原因，对于全面认识台湾民主政治，促进两岸关系的和平发展，具有重要的理论意义和实践价值。本文运用政治营销的相关概念，以民进党的实力消长为例，尝试探讨台湾民主“异化”的原因，并从新的视角解析和理解台湾民主问题。     

The anti‐secession law,framing, and political change in Taiwan

Beijing's Anti‐Secession Law (ASL) was promulgated in March 2005. Influenced by the December 2004 Legislative Yuan elections in Taiwan, Beijing's 2005 comments suggested the ASL was intended to increase peaceful interaction, not confrontation. Temporary, cooperative discussions early in 2005 between the People First Party (PFP) and President Chen Shui‐bian (DPP) are analysed as well as trips to the mainland by KMT leaders and the subsequent China visit by PFP leaders. The impact of all these events on the May 2005 National Assembly elections and the December local elections in the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROCT) is discussed. An evolving, more peaceful and interactive status quo has reduced the likelihood of military force becoming an option. Gradual refraining of cross‐Strait relations occurred in 2005. Still to be determined is whedier Taiwan will benefit from the changing status quo to the degree Beijing believes the PRC will benefit.     

Contesting Europe: Strategies and Legacies in Polish Political Competition

This essay explores positions on European integration in the campaigns of a number of mainstream Polish political parties in recent elections. It shows how contestations of the European Union have, to some extent, been driven by strategic considerations related to inter-party competition. In Poland's fluid party landscape, political actors have sometimes relied on Euroscepticism to create seemingly clear lines of division between themselves and their political competitors. Yet these Eurosceptic views interact with, and are therefore also constrained by, certain legacies: ideas on the relationship between Europe and Poland that are already part of the cultural context.     

Institutional duration and growth in Africa

We argue that there are strong reasons to believe that continuous competitive, multiparty elections produce different growth dynamics than first competitive elections. We test this conjecture by looking at the effects of competitive elections and their endurance on growth rates in African countries from 1970 to 2001. We find that initial competitive elections do not offer a growth dividend over having no elections at all, although noncompetitive elections may result in a growth penalty. However, over time, countries that hold competitive elections slowly begin outperforming those without them—especially those that hold noncompetitive elections. Africa’s poor growth experience may therefore be related less to an unwillingness to experiment with democracy, than to an inability to consolidate democratic reforms once in place. Karen E. Ferree is assistant professor of political science at University of California, San Diego. She specializes in the study of elections in new democracies, especially those in Africa. Her work has examined the political economy of elections as well as the role of ethnicity in elections. Smita Singh is Special advisor to Global Affairs at the William and Flora Hewlett Foudation. Her research interests include the political economy of development and violence in Africa and Southeast Asia. We wish to thank Robert Bates for support and advice at all stages of this project. Thanks also to Macartan Humphries, Naunihal Singh, two anonymous reviewers, and the editors atStudies in Comparative and International Development for helpful comments.     

Exchange Rate Regime,Central Bank Independence,and Political Business Cycles in Brazil

This article examines policy consequences of electoral cycles and exchange rate regime choices in Brazil. The literature on opportunistic political business cycles maintains that governments adopt expansionary economic policies before elections to mobilize voters’ support. However, research findings in Latin America based on the theory has been inconclusive. I argue that the lack of conclusive evidence in Latin America stems from measurement errors common in the use of cross-national aggregate data. Using Brazil’s monthly data from 1985 to 2006, this article shows that there are electorally induced fiscal cycles under fixed and crawling peg exchange rate regimes and electorally induced monetary cycles under floating exchange rates only when the nation’s central bank is not independent. Indeed, accounting for Brazil’s unique economic contingencies and longitudinal variations in the de facto central bank independence, its public policy behavior remarkably resembles that of the more affluent, economically stable OECD countries.

Political knowledge in Poland

Using Polish panel data from 1998, 2003, and 2008, I examine people's knowledge of the governing parties of the Sejm in 2003. I focus on ability, opportunity, and motivation to explain political knowledge. I also examine the effects of knowledge on changes in political attitudes and behaviors from 2003 to 2008. Major sources of political knowledge are prior political interest and the change in interest from 1998 to 2003, political experience, and cognitive ability. There also exists a substantial gender gap in knowledge. Finally, political knowledge leads to changes in political interest, alienation, democratic attitudes, and voting behavior.     

Abe's Fall: Leadership and Expectations in Japanese Politics

On becoming prime minister in 2006, Abe Shinzō was feted as the ‘prince’ of Japanese politics. A year later, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party had suffered a major electoral defeat and Abe's time as his country's leader was over. As a study of political leadership, this article seeks to explain the leadership outcomes of Abe's brief prime ministership, in particular the dramatic fall in public support Abe suffered during his tenure. It is argued that, despite the difficult circumstances Abe faced, the nature of his political demise cannot be fully accounted for by structural factors alone. It is also necessary to understand the role played by Abe himself and, in particular, his flawed leadership strategy. In the end, Abe's political demise followed a basic logic: high expectations followed by disillusionment characterised by sudden plunges in approval—a tragedy of hubris leading to nemesis.     

Democratic Consolidation in Timor-Leste: Achievements,Problems and Prospects

Timor-Leste has had three rounds of major elections, all of which have been widely regarded as meeting international criteria for being free and fair. There has also been one change of government on the basis of these elections. On these grounds, some observers have suggested that Timor-Leste has met the benchmark for having consolidated its democracy. Timor-Leste can be said to meet the criteria for an expanded minimalist definition of democracy, holding regular, free and fair elections within an open competitive political environment, with relatively little violence and intimidation and general freedom of expression. This political process has, as defined by the literature, also consolidated. However, Timor-Leste continues to face future economic challenges. The literature indicates that states with high levels of poverty, unemployment and with food shortages are more prone to political instability. Given that Timor-Leste's political party system relies heavily on charismatic individuals and, apart from Fretilin, has poor party structures, loss of current political leaders will add a further destabilising effect. Expected economic problems are likely to manifest around the same time that the current generation of political leaders are no longer active. The question will be, in this increasingly challenging environment, whether Timor-Leste can sustain its democracy.     

美国对台湾“政治安排”的政策及影响

美国对台湾“政治安排”的政策对“合情合理安排两岸政治关系”有重要影响。美国对台湾政治定位的政策是“认知到台湾是中国的一部分”,不支持“台独”或“两个中国”,但同时又“对台湾地位不持立场”。在两岸关系的解决方式方面,美国对台湾的前途持开放立场,但认为应透过对话和平解决,且要尊重两岸民众的意愿。美国这一政策增加了对统一前两岸政治关系做出“合情合理安排”的难度,但在某些方面与大陆对台政策也有一致性。目前,两岸应充分利用这些相契合的政策,推进两岸政治关系做出“合情合理”安排。     

Network Politics,Political Capital,and Democracy

Abstract

Is network politics a good or a bad thing for democracy? Seen from a narrow perspective of democracy the answer is clear. It is a bad thing. However, seen from broader perpsective the answer is more complex since it does not only focus on the preservation of representative democracy but also on the promotion of organizational democracy in civil society and on the enhancement of the citizens' political capital, that is their endowment, empowerment and political identity. The complexity of the relationship between democracy and network politics is apparent in a case study of political decision making in Skanderborg, a small town in Denmark.     

Political participation and municipal population size: A meta-study

Do municipal amalgamations enforce or do they weaken (local) political participation? This is an important question considering a worldwide tendency for municipalities to merge. This question will be answered using a mixed-method approach based on a literature overview (meta-study) in general and additional quantitative (turnout figures, election studies) and qualitative (interviews) data regarding the situation in The Netherlands in particular. Political participation is consistently measured using indicators that measure behaviour (especially turnout figures) instead of perceptions and opinions such as trust or internal and external political efficacy. Local political participation seems to decrease with an increase in municipal population size.