Emerging Democracies and Democratic Values: The Experiences of Taiwan and East Asia

August 27-28, 2005

The conference is hosted by the UNT Political Science Department and generously supported by a grant from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. The conference is free of charge and there is no registration for audience members.

Welcome and Opening Comments (8:45 AM)

James Meernik, Chair Department of Political Science.
Dr. Christine Hopkins, Secretary General, Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of Dallas/Fort Worth.
Mr. Kenneth Liao, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Houston.

Panel 1: Political Elites and Democracy (9:15-10:45 AM)

"Confucian Leadership Style and the Effectiveness of Local Action in Taiwan's Democracy-An Empirical Study of Taiwanese Local Leaders in Seven Counties and Cities, 2001." Da-chi Liao and Herlin Chien, National Sun Yat-sen University.

• Confucianism had long been considered by some western scholars (such as Huntington) as a cultural system which is not so beneficial to the development of modern democracy. Taiwan, as a newly democratized country, however, had been unable to avoid inheriting this cultural system. According to a survey of Taiwanese local leaders done by Samuel Eldersveld and Da-chi Liao in 2001, more than 85% of these leaders agreed that they have been bred by Confucianism. The question this paper raises is how these local leaders who have held Confucian values and have also emphasized a modest way of doing things in their leadership have influenced the effectiveness of local action in each of their localities.

"Comparing Consensus on Taiwan Democracy Among the Mass Public and Elites." Lu-huei Chen, Chia-hung Tsai and Ching-hsin Yu, National Chengchi University.

• We examine the difference in views of democracy between the mass public and elites in Taiwan. Using the 2004 Taiwan Democracy Index data, we first describe how the mass public and elites evaluate Taiwan democracy and, more importantly, their democratic values. Furthermore, we observe whether ordinary people and opinion leaders have consensus on certain aspects of Taiwan's democracy. The comparison not only allows us to picture what and why the mass public and elites agree on in general, but also reveal the most crucial gap between the mass public and elites. The findings of this study may shed some light on highly partisan Taiwan politics and the rapidly declining political trust among the mass public.

Chair and Discussant: Prof. T.Y. Wang (Illinois State University).

Break (10:45-11:00 AM)

Panel 2: Democratic Values and Political Trust (11:00-12:30 PM)

"In Institutions We Trust: Corruption and Political Trust in East Asian Democracies." Eric Chang, Michigan State University, and Yun-han Chu, Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University.

• While voluminous studies have attributed the continuing decline of institutional trust to political corruption, the link between corruption and institutional trust in East Asia has yet to receive the attention it merits in empirical research. This paper fills this gap. Making use of newly compiled data from the East Asia Barometer, we show a strong trust-eroding effect of political corruption in East Asian democracies. The finding, surviving demanding robustness checks, provides clear rebuttal evidence against the conventional wisdom that argues that attenuating factors in East Asian societies might lessen the impact of political corruption.

"Democratic Commitment in Taiwan: An Analysis of Survey Data." T.Y. Wang, Illinois State University.

• Popular commitment to democracy is the essence of its consolidation. As Taiwan has become a fledgling democratic country, how strong is the popular support for democracy in Taiwan? And, how can the island citizens' democratic commitment be explained? Utilizing survey data collected in Taiwan, the proposed study attempts to answer these two research questions.

Chair and Discussant: Prof. John Booth (University of North Texas).

Lunch (12:45-2:00 PM)

Panel 3: Democracy and Public Policy (2:15-3:45 PM)

"From State Entrepreneurs to Political Entrepreneurs: Democratization and the Politics of Financial Liberalization in Taiwan." Alex Tan, University of Canterbury.

• Over the past two decades, the continued consolidation of Taiwanese democracy has had an impact on the nature of economic policy-making. Numerous scholars have pointed to the seeming decline of the 'developmental state' which has been credited for the 'economic miracle' from the 1950s-1980s. Using liberalization and changes in the financial sector as a case, this paper examines how the developmental state has changed (or declined) and how democratization itself may have contributed to its transformation leading to interesting outcomes in Taiwan's financial industry.

"Semi-presidentialism and Voters' Views of Divided Government in Taiwan." Philip Paolino, University of North Texas.

• I consider the conditions that could make divided government a stabilizing force in democratizing nations. The 2001 Legislative Yuan election in Taiwan provides an interesting case for examining the relationship between presidential systems and democratic instability because Taiwan faced, for the first time in its history, a situation where voters had to evaluate their experience with divided government. I will analyze data from the 2001 Taiwan Election and Democratization Studies (TEDS) survey conducted after the 2001 election to examine whether or not voters' attitudes toward divided government are consistent with the conditions that can make divided government a stabilizing influence and how those attitudes affected their voting behavior in the 2001 Legislative Yuan election.

Chair and Discussant: Prof. Matthew Wilson (Southern Methodist University).

Panel 4: Elections in Taiwan (Sunday 8:45-10:15 AM)

"Referendum and Democracy: the Experience of Taiwan." Chi Huang, National Chengchi University.

• The referendum is often hailed as a manifestation of direct democracy. The referendum held in Taiwan on March 20, 2004 was the island's first implementation of direct democracy at the national level. The event undoubtedly constituted a landmark on Taiwan's path of democratization. This paper proposes to examine the relationship among presidential election, democratic values, and referendum voting in Taiwan. This paper will use the data set of an island-wide survey, the 2004 Taiwan's Election and Democratization Study (TEDS 2004P), to address the following questions: 1.Why is there such a large gap between the 80% turnout rate of the presidential election and the 45% voting rate in the referendums, given that the two referendum issues at hand were not all that controversial? 2.What are the determinants for the voting choices for the public, regarding presidential candidates as well as YES, NO, and abstention in referendum issues? Do voters with higher democratic values are more likely to vote in referendum given their party identification and candidate preferences?

"Democracy in a Mildly Divided Society." John Fuh-sheng Hsieh, University of South Carolina.

• Taiwan is a mildly divided society, divided along the lines of ethnicity and national identity. In the '70s and '80s, such divisions have actually played a positive role in facilitating democratization on the island by providing the opposition movement with a ready-made power base in their struggles against the Kuomintang regime. However, as Taiwan became democratic, these divisions often complicate the policy-making process by instilling some non-rational elements in the formulation of policies, particularly those policies pertaining to mainland China. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changing nature of such divisions and their implications for Taiwan's political process.

Chair and Discussant: Prof. Emily Clough (University of North Texas).

Break (10:15-10:30 AM)

Panel 5: Roundtable discussion on Democratization in Taiwan (10:30-11:30 AM).

Moderator: Prof. Phil Paolino (University of North Texas).