Taiwanese Identity in the Twenty-First Century ─ Domestic, Regional and Global Perspectives

As we look to enter the second decade of the 21^st century, Taiwan’s quest for identity remains the most contentious issue in the domestic arena of Taiwanese politics. From here, it spills over into the cross-Strait relationship and impacts on regional and global security. Whether Taiwan is a nation state or whether Taiwan has any claim to be a nation-state and how Taiwan should relate to 'China' are issues which have long been hotly debated on the island, although it seems that much of this debate is now more focused on finding an adequate strategy to deal with the Beijing government than on the legitimacy of Taiwan’s claim to sovereignty as the Republic of China.

The collection of chapters in this book shed light on very different aspects of Taiwan’s current state of identity formation from historical, political, social and economic perspectives, both domestically, and globally. As such it will be invaluable reading for students and scholars of Taiwan studies, politics, history and society, as well as those interested in cross-Strait relations, Chinese politics, and Chinese international relations. 

Jens Damm is an Assistant Professor, currently affiliated to the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Studies, Chang Jung University, Tainan. He is also an Associate Fellow at the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT) at Tuebingen University and a board member of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). His research is mainly focused on discourses on gender and ethnicity-related issues in Taiwan, Greater China including the PRC, and on the impact of new communication technologies. He is the author of Homosexuality and Society in Taiwan: 1945 to 1995 (2003) and has edited Chinese Cyberspaces (Routledge 2006, co-edited with Simona Thomas), Postmodern China (LIT 2008, co-edited with Andreas Steen), Taiwanese Identity from Domestic, Regional and Global Perspectives (LIT 2007, co-edited with Gunter Schubert), and China Networks (LIT 2009, co-edited with Mechthild Leutner).

Gunter Schubert is Professor of Greater China Studies at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Tuebingen. He is also the Director of the Tuebingen-based European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT). Professor Schubert specializes in the politics and society of the Greater China region, cross-Strait relations and integration, and local governance reform in the PRC. He has also published on human rights development in East Asia and Chinese nationalism. His most recent book publications are Politische Partizipation und Regimelegitimitat in der VR China: Der landliche Raum (Political participation and regime legitimacy in the PRC: rural China) (VS Verlag 2009, co-written with Thomas Heberer) and Regime Legitimacy in Contemporary China: Institutional Change and Stability (Routledge 2009, co-edited with Thomas Heberer).