A CONSTRUCTIVIST ANALYSIS OF TAIWAN’S DEMOCRATIZATION

STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS AND EXTERNAL FACTORS (1991-2001)

Resumo

Since scholars such as Samuel P. Huntington claimed that some cultures such as
the Islam and the Confucianism are hostile to democracy, this work attempted
to find out why Taiwan became a democracy despite this cultural obstacle.
Therefore, this article’s objective was to understand why democratization can
thrive in civilizations hostile to democracy. Aiming to accomplish such a task, this
research used the explanatory case study as methodology. In this sense, it tried to
identify causal relations between some external factors and the democratization
in Taiwan from 1991 to 2001. By using Alexander Wendt’s constructivism, this
work addressed Taiwan’s corporate identity and interests and investigated the
changing in Taiwan’s type identity – from authoritarianism to democracy. In
addition, it labeled the problems that Confucianism pose to democracy as
structural problems. Similarly, the external factors considered in this study took
into consideration China’s Hobbesian environment as well as the United States
Lockean anarchy, both concerning Taiwan. To accomplish the goal, it tested the
following hypothesis: The more Taiwan become democratic, the more it will
benefit from the Lockean culture, and the less it will suffer from the Hobbesian
anarchy.