Book Excerpt: Revolutionary Taiwan
Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order by Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison sheds light on how democratization in Taiwan constituted a revolution, changing not just the form of government but also how Taiwanese people conceptualized the island, coming to see it a complete nation unto itself. Revolutionary Taiwan brings the Taiwan story to a general audience. It will appeal to students and readers interested in international relations, contemporary geopolitics, and East Asian Studies. Informed by years of academic research and life in Taiwan, this book provides an entry point to a remarkable place and people.
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK:
Since the early 1990s, when people living in Taiwan achieved the right to freely vote for their executive and legislature, there has been a tidal change in how they view themselves and where they live. According to this view, “Taiwan” is not part of a wider, cross-strait Chinese nation, but a nation centered on the island of Taiwan itself. The outcome of democratization has been nothing less than revolutionary, producing a new, de facto nation and people that can be justly called “Taiwanese.”
The imperatives of great power politics in the era of increasing US-China rivalry mean that this revolution remains unacknowledged globally. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists that “reunification” is the historic mission of all peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Modern Chinese nationalism is premised in large part on the subjugation of Taiwan and its people. The PRC threatens war with and over the island, inviting a crisis that would engulf the region and beyond. Any glib judgement that the “Taiwan problem” would slip from view with “reunification” and the “rise of China” has never been less convincing.
But this Taiwan nation exists out of time. It hangs in a permanent present, the so-called “status quo,” neither recognized by the international community as a fully sovereign nation nor treated by it as “part of China” the way that Chinese provinces and special administrative regions are. Yet this present could branch at any moment into radically different futures of devastating regional conflict or democratic survival and continued economic development.
Thus, Taiwan remains inaccurately recognized and poorly understood, just at the moment when Taiwanese themselves are coming into a clearer sense of their identities and accomplishments. The most common frameworks in international discourse about Taiwan—that it “split with China in 1949” or “sees itself as the true China”—fail to explain anything at all about why Taiwanese have withstood consistent pressure from the PRC to give up their democratic self-governance and their hopes for diplomatic normalization.
Each chapter of this book provides a new framework that illuminates this interstitial state and explains why democratization in Taiwan constituted a revolution, changing not just the form of government over the island but also how Taiwanese people conceptualized the land they lived on, as a whole and complete nation unto itself. This book also discusses the reasons why this revolution remains unfinished and contingent, as Beijing’s power and the disproportionate leverage that large states exercise within the international system block off the “normal” endpoint of a revolution: an open declaration of statehood and welcome into the global community.
Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order by Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison is part of the Cambria Sinophone World Series (General Editor: Victor H. Mair).
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
“Taiwan is a complex, contradictory society. Chou and Harrison offer us a clearly written, deeply researched history that helps readers understand how Taiwan was revolutionized over the centuries—from settler colonialism, authoritarianism, democracy, and contested sovereignty. Their narrative of Taiwan is moving and powerful. Most importantly, their book centers the perspectives of Taiwanese peoples, and why their voices matter. If you buy only one book on Taiwan’s history, this is it.” —James Lin, University of Washington
“Catherine Chou and Mark Harrison have written an informative account of contemporary Taiwan nationalism and Taiwan history from the nuanced perspectives of the Taiwanese themselves. The book provides a much-needed corrective to a plethora of publications that continue to see the ‘Taiwan problem’ from the perspectives of ‘two Chinas’ or the Washington-Beijing rivalry. If the emergence of Taiwanese nationalism constitutes a ‘revolution,’ it is a revolution that exposes the fundamental contradiction of our current international system, which as Chou and Harrison point out, ‘holds out the promise of self-determination and sovereignty’ but allows ‘economically and militarily powerful states to disproportionately shape the system in their interests.’” —Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, University of Missouri-Columbia
“Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order masterfully renders Taiwan’s complexities tangible and accessible by delving into the lived experiences of its people and the realities of its landscapes. Chou and Harrison offer a profound understanding of Taiwan that is authentically rooted in its unique identity and context. This is the book I recommend for anyone seeking a nuanced explanation of Taiwan’s political situation from a Taiwan-centered perspective.” —Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Green Island
Table of Contents:
- Prologue
- Chapter 1: Two Chinas Against a Taiwanese Nation
- Chapter 2: Four Ways of Telling Taiwanese History
- Chapter 3: “Chinese Taipei”: The Remapping that Explains Taiwan’s Geopolitical Predicament
- Chapter 4: Taiwan in the World
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
About the authors:
Catherine Lila Chou is Assistant Professor of History at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan. For six years prior, she taught at Grinnell College in Iowa, where she was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024. She holds a PhD in early modern European history from Stanford University. Dr. Chou’s work has appeared in Historical Research, Parliamentary History, Journal of British Studies, and Historical Journal.
Mark Harrison is Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He holds a PhD in Chinese Studies from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is co-editor of the Brill Taiwan Studies Series and an Expert Associate of the National Security College of the Australian National University. His work on Taiwan has appeared in the International Journal of Taiwan Studies, Thesis Eleven, in edited volumes such as Re-writing Culture in Taiwan and in other publications.