Student protests and Taiwan’s soft power
March 25, 2014
Written by Gary Rawnsley. A state’s soft power capacity is determined by how it behaves, at home and abroad. It is derived from a style of government that recognises first the significance of values, principles and political arrangements that make a particular state attractive; and second that in putting those values into practice, what you …
Occupy Taiwan and the Red Shirts Movement
March 24, 2014
Written by Dafydd Fell. One of the challenges of studying Taiwan politics is that we often have too much information and data to cope with. Watching the development of the current occupation protests is no exception. There are live feeds, constant updating of pictures, comments and analysis on social media, and that is before the …
Taiwan’s Youth: Blamed if you don’t, blamed if you do
March 21, 2014
Written by Michal Thim. It seems that Taiwan has grown accustomed to frequent protests targeting a broad range of issues, starting with land grabbing disputes, ending with increasingly unpopular cross-Strait policy of current KMT administration led by deeply unpopular President Ma. Yet, the decision by an alliance of students and civil society groups to take over …
Smear Tactics and Taiwan’s Compliant Media
March 20, 2014
Written by J. Michael Cole. As the occupation of Taiwan’s legislature by thousands of protesters enters its third day, the architecture of power on the island is once again resorting to the age-old tactic of slandering its opponents in order to discredit them with the public and an inattentive international community. Immediately after approximately 300 …
Occupy the Legislature: Is it the only way?
March 19, 2014
Written by Gary Rawnsley. You know something important is happening in Taiwan when the island is in the BBC news. Well ok, perhaps current events are not making the headlines in the main bulletins – Crimea, a missing Malaysian aeroplane and the little matter of a Budget Speech by the British government are seeing to …
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