Taiwan`s Cultural Reconstruction Movement: Identity Politics and Collective Action since 2000

Abstract

This paper examines the social reconstruction of Taiwan`s identity since 2000, when Chen Shui-bian and the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidential election. It will address the Chen Shui-bian regime`s policies of identity reconstruction in a series of political issues (e.g., the rewriting of history text and language policy) to generate collective action from the public, the resistance from opponents, and the intriguing relationship between identity and ethnicity. Finally, the paper will draw assessments and implications for the future of Taiwan`s political development.