Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen Changes and Challenges Routledge Research on Taiwan Series

This book assesses the forces that led to the election of Tsai Ing-wen and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2016 and re-election in 2020, and provides the first comprehensive treatment of this pivotal period in Taiwan?s politics, policy, and international relations.

The Democratic Progressive Party?s victory in Taiwan?s 2016 presidential and legislative elections marked several significant turning points. The third peaceful transition of power between political parties during Taiwan?s democratic era heralded further consolidation of Taiwan?s democracy, and Tsai Ing-wen?s election gave the Republic of China its first female president. Her administration has pursued an ambitious agenda of domestic and foreign policy reforms, and has faced challenges that include steering through economic transitions, addressing contentious issues of social justice, national identity and cultural change, and navigating an external environment defined by an increasingly powerful and hostile China, and a more supportive but less predictable United States. In Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen, leading experts from the US and Taiwan chart the progress and problems of Tsai?s first term and the prospects for Taiwan during her second term and beyond.

As a study of a crucial era of politics in Taiwan, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Taiwan studies, Political Science, Law, Economics and International Relations.

1. Introduction: Change, Continuity and Challenges for Taiwan in the Tsai Era 2. Elections and the Challenges of Governing in Taiwan Under Tsai 3. Kuomintang Agonistes: Party Politics in Taiwan 4. Taiwan’s Need for New Attitudes, Aims, and Actions to Further Economic Growth 5. Taiwan in International Economic Relations 6. Constructive Build-up of Taiwan’s Defense 7. Cross-Strait Relations under the Tsai Administration 8. U.S.-Taiwan Relations: Do Past Patterns Persist in the Tsai Era? 9. Taiwan-Japanese Relations in the Tsai Era 10. Taiwan’s Quest for International Space in the Tsai Era: Adapting Old Strategies to New Circumstances 11. Taiwan’s Culture Wars from "Re-China-ization" to "Taiwan-ization" and Beyond: Tsai’s Cultural Policy in Long-Term Perspective

June Teufel Dreyer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, USA and a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, USA. She is also the author of China’s Political System: Modernization and Tradition,10th Edition (Routledge, 2019) and Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun (2017).

Jacques deLisle is Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania, USA and Director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, USA. He is co-editor of Taiwan under Ma Ying-jeou (Routledge, 2014) and China’s Global Engagement (2017).