Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Party Formation

Lev Nachman

ISBN 10: 0295753927 / ISBN 13: 9780295753928

Published by University of Washington Press, 2025

New copy - Usually dispatched within 7-11 working days. Seller Inventory # B9780295753928

Synopsis:

Where statehood is contested, questions of identity and territory define the political landscape Despite maintaining de facto sovereignty, states like Taiwan find themselves unrecognized in today’s international system because another power claims the state as part of their territory. This fraught status, in turn, significantly affects the domestic politics of these places. Lev Nachman’s exploration of Taiwan’s political landscape after the 2014 Sunflower Movement brings a fresh perspective to understanding social movement mobilization and political party formation in what he terms “contested states.” In these states, political cleavages are defined not by traditional left-right issues but by questions of identity, territory, and what to do about the country that claims them. Drawing from 150 interviews with Taiwanese activists and politicians, as well as a comparative analysis of Ukraine, Nachman reveals that traditional political science theories fall short when explaining the formation of movement parties in such contexts. Instead, he argues, looming existential threats and strained relationships between activists and established proindependence parties drive social movements into formal political arenas. Contested Taiwan offers a new approach to understanding contested statehood, movement party formation, and what motivates individuals to take political action across the world.

About the Authors: Lev Nachman is assistant professor in the Graduate Institute of National Development at National Taiwan University. He received his PhD in political science from University of California Irvine in 2021. He is the co-author of Taiwan: A Contested Democracy Under Threat with Jonathan Sullivan (Agenda Publishing, 2024).

James Lin is assistant professor of history at the University of Washington.

William Lavely is professor of sociology at the University of Washington. He is a coeditor of Rural China on the Eve of Revolution: Sichuan Fieldnotes, 1949–1950 by G. William Skinner (University of Washington Press, 2016) and the author of many articles on demography and the family in contemporary China.

Madeleine Yue Dong is professor of history and chair of China Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Republican Beijing: The City and Its Histories (University of California Press, 2004); editor of Everyday Modernity in China (University of Washington Press, 2006); and coeditor of The Modern Girl Around the World (Duke University Press, 2008).

Bibliographic Details

Title: Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social ...
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication Date: 2025
Binding: Paperback / softback
Condition: New