Empowerment Theory and Ethnic Politics in Taiwan

Abstract

Ethnicity has been a critical issue in Taiwan`s political life, especially in its relation to the ethnic differences between the ”majority” Taiwanese and the ”minority” mainlanders. In contrast to previous research on ethnic politics in Taiwan, this study uses 2002 national sample survey data and examines the impact of political empowerment on the political trust and efficacy of mainlanders. The findings reveal that empowerment, as indicated by control of the local executive`s office, has a considerable influence on mainlanders` political attitudes, and this confirms the hypothesis that in the high-mainlander-empowerment regions, the differences in political trust and efficacy between mainlanders and Taiwanese are relatively small. In the low-mainlander-empowerment regions, these differences between mainlanders and Taiwanese are markedly higher, and the political trust and efficacy of mainlanders significantly lower. This work concludes that political empowerment could be a field worthy of continued research in Taiwan`s politics.