In the last decade Taiwan restructured its political system from a Leninist-style party-state into a working democracy, a process completed with the direct election of its state president in 1996. This dispelled the belief, still prevalent up until only a decade ago, that democracy could not flourish in a Chinese community and broke the tyranny of 4000 years of Chinese history. The close resemblance of the political structure in pre-democratic Taiwan to present-day China raises a vital question: can the Taiwan experience show the way forward for the 1.2 billion people of China?

This volume assesses the nature of the political system in Taiwan, examines the forces for the end of authoritarianism and scrutinizes how democratic consolidation is progressing. It also examines the forces which critically limit the scope for political change, particularly the problems in forging a national identity and the Chinese military threat should democratization involve self-determination for the Taiwanese.