Power in Taiwan has swung between the KMT and DPP but appetite for new parties and ideas suggest a fragmented future.
The News’ Lens
Date: 2018/01/05
By: John F. Copper
It is not certain a two-party system has become entrenched.
Any political system can be assessed and judged by its party structure, parties being
Credit: REUTERS/Nicky Loh
a sine qua non to the functioning of modern polities.
In Taiwan’s early history, as in most places in the world, political power was too fragmented and its politics too simple for there to be a need for political parties. Under Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945), political “organizations” formed mainly to persuade Tokyo to grant Taiwan a higher degree of self-rule. But these did not grow into political parties in any real sense of that word since elections were perfunctory and controlled by the Japanese colonial authorities. [FULL STORY]
