In the last few years there have been several important political studies
focusing on Taiwan. This has been a welcome development. Taiwan's lack
of diplomatic relations with other countries and mainland China's relative
prominence in the world contributed to the lack of attention given to Taiwan.
Some scholars have had an aversion to studying Taiwan because of their
dislike for Taiwan's political regime.

This book's general focus is on this regime. I consider the role of the
Nationalist Party of China ( Kuomintang, or KMT) in the democratization of
Taiwan. The study has filled an interest I have had in determining to what
degree the KMT was the villain it is sometimes portrayed to be, and the
embodiment of the political and moral good partisans have claimed it to be.
I have found the party to be a fascinating organization of contradictory
purposes and achievements. Its reputation is marred by ineptitude and by
brutal acts of repression. It nevertheless still managed an incredible feat of
economic modernization on Taiwan and eventually became a proponent of
democracy.

I focus on the role of KMT party elites in the democratization process,
which I believe is the most neglected aspect of studies done on the political
transformation of Taiwan. While I do not question the heroic struggles of the
political opposition in Taiwan, my attempt is to direct attention to the
significant effort Kuomintang leaders took to thwart democracy, and later,
smooth the way for democratic reforms. It is important to understand the
KMT's evolution from a Leninist party-state to a fractious party in a
competitive political system. While Taiwan's experiment with democratization
mirrors the experiences of studies done on countries in Latin America and
Southern Europe, important differences exist.

Latin American and European case studies focus on conflict, decisions,
compromises, and accidents that result from relatively short-term
confrontations between elites in the opposition and softliners and hardliners
within authoritarian regimes. These factors are important in the Taiwanese
case as well, but other aspects are more important. Taiwan's democratization
has been a long-term process of elites wrestling within the confines of political
institutions. For this reason, democratization came about through reform of
the KMT party-state, Taiwan's representative bodies, and political ideology.
Driven by a subethnic split between Taiwanese and mainland-born Chinese
and a desire for a liberal regime, the opposition was the catalyst for putting

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