Introduction: The DPP in power

The transition of power from the KMT to the DPP in Taiwan has not been easy. Instead of bringing in a new way of thinking, it is noted that ideology is too ingrained for the new ruling party to make a break from it. Instead of providing a new form of governance, the DPP has proved to be inexperienced at coping with the intricacies of a modern democratic polity. Rather than building new state-civil society relations, the DPP has been unable to expand its outreach to segments beyond its traditional constituencies. Most painful has been the effort required to try to change the general mindset from confrontational to accommodative. The DPP went on to form a minority government and to challenge the still powerful now-opposition KMT in almost every important policy debate. Consequently, components for effective governance such as coordination, compromise, institution-building, etc., are rare stock. The inherent factional schism is hurting the party as virtues like coherence of policy, coordination of bureaucracies, and even channel of command are compromised. Ethnic incongruence seems to be aggravating the situation.