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theses

During the Cold War, developments in the international system as well as new directions in the policies of the great powers generated the most important impetus for change in Taiwan, resulting in the evolution and transformation of the government of the Republic of China and initiating the process of democratization. However, after the 1990s, the unintended consequences of a period of accelerated globalization exerted a profound impact on the development of Taiwan’s modern state building, which included transformation in the concept of sovereignty within the state apparatus in Taiwan. Because it cannot be categorized as a national welfare state on the basis of economic nationalism or as a competition-state typical of neoliberalism, Taiwan, instead, has been driven by hybrid forms of globalization to adopt a strategy of conflating nationalism and liberalism for its survival in a period of globalization, in which China has accelerated its integration process into the global community since the late-1970s. This transforming process of Taiwan can be described as a structural competition-state, in which, like other countries, the pursuit of enhancement of national competitiveness by liberalistic open polices becomes the main priority of the state machine. However, it is different from other countries in that the success of its accommodation to globalization conditions depends heavily on international power structures that, in turn, influence the current developments of Taiwanese nationalism. Although most scholars attribute the launch of Taiwan’s transformation to the process of internal democratization, they ignore the external dynamics of globalization that have stimulated the transforming sovereignty concept in Taiwan. Therefore, this dissertation will take into account the state’s transformation as a result of globalization in order to re-evaluate the construct of Taiwan as a structural competition-state. This analysis will, first, offer another dimension to understanding Taiwan’s transformation actuated by the globalization that simultaneously enabled and permitted China’s integration into the global community. Second, by helping form a clearer picture of states’ responses to the transforming global system, the notion of a structural competition-state will enrich the study of globalization. Finally, this dissertation will aid in forecasting practical scenarios related to Taiwan in the globalization era.

ETD_4035

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

Includes vita

by Yi-Chun Lin

http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10002600001.ETD.000065045

doi:10.7282/T3Z03735

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.