Elections, Social Movements and Gender in Taiwan

This module will address the domestic politics and society of Taiwan. It will do this through the lens of elections, social movements and gender. After briefly introducing Taiwan’s modern political history the focus will be on contemporary Taiwan since democratization. We will consider how useful political science theories and frameworks are for understanding political processes in Taiwan. A range of case studies will be examined on topics such as explaining electoral outcomes, social movement impact and changing gender rights.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the module

• Teach students to evaluate and ‘test’ a broad range of concepts and theories on Taiwan
• Show students how to present ideas and explore important concepts in writing and through presentations.
• Teach students skills in political analysis
• Build up students’ detailed knowledge of the domestic politics of Taiwan

Workload

• 2 hours seminar per week

Method of assessment

• Assignment 1: 20%
• Assignment 2: 70%
• Presentation: 10%

Suggested reading

• Dafydd Fell: (2018) Government and Politics in Taiwan
• Gunter Schubert (2016) Routledge Handbook of Comtemporary Taiwan
• Rigger, Shelley (1999). “Voting for Democracy (chapter 1).” Politics in Taiwan: Voting For Democracy. London: Routledge
• Jonathan Sullivan, Chun-Yi Lee (eds) (2018), A New Era in Democratic Taiwan
• Trajectories and Turning Points in Politics and Cross-Strait Relations

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules