Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:46:35.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Electoral Fortunes of Taiwan's Green Party: 1996–2012

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2016

DAFYDD FELL  and
YEN-WEN PENG
DAFYDD FELL
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of [email protected]
YEN-WEN PENG
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Affairs Management, National Sun Yat Sen University, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Green Party Taiwan (GPT) represents an important case both for scholars of environmental politics but also Taiwanese politics. Established in 1996, it is the oldest Asian green party and is one of the most active parties in the Asia-Pacific Greens network. The party has enjoyed mixed electoral fortunes. After promising early election results, the GPT virtually ceased contesting elections between 2000 and 2005. However, from 2006 the party began a gradual revival in its vote shares. This process culminated in the January 2012 Legislative Yuan election when the GPT surprised many observers by coming fifth in the proportional party vote. Considering the limited resources at the party's disposal this was quite an achievement. In this study, we examine and explain the changing electoral fortunes of the GPT since its establishment in 1996. We are interested to see whether standard theories for explaining small or ecological party success, that have been developed in western Europe, work well in the Taiwan context. Our research is based on a range of new fieldwork conducted between 2012 and 2014. These include in-depth interviews with campaigners and party leaders, focus group sessions with party leaders and candidates, and interviews with party supporters.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 63 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arrigo, Linda and Puleston, Gaia (2006), ‘The Environmental Movement in Taiwan after 2000: Advances and Dilemmas’, in Fell, Dafydd, Klöter, Henning, and Bi-yu, Chang (eds.), What has Changed? Taiwan Before and After the Change in Ruling Parties, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, pp. 165–85.Google Scholar
Duverger, Maurice (1954), Political Parties: Their Organization and Activities in the Modern State. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Fell, Dafydd (2005a), Party Politics in Taiwan, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fell, Dafydd (2005b), ‘Success and Failure of New Parties in Taiwanese Elections’, China: An International Journal, 3 (2): 212–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fell, Dafydd (2014), ‘Measuring and Explaining the Electoral Fortunes of Small Parties in Taiwan’, Issues and Studies: An International Quarterly on China, Taiwan, and East Asian Affairs, 50 (1): 153‒88.Google Scholar
Ho, Ming-sho (2003), ‘The Politics of Anti-Nuclear Protest in Taiwan: A Case of Party-Dependent Movement (1980–2000)’, Modern Asian Studies, 37 (3): 683–708.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, Ming-sho (2005), ‘Taiwan's State and Social Movements under the DPP Government, 2000–2004’, Journal of East Asian Studies, 5 (3): 401–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, Ming-sho (2006), Green Democracy (綠色民主), Taipei, 群學.Google Scholar
Hsieh, John Fu-sheng (2002), ‘Continuity and Change in Taiwan's Electoral Politics’, in Hsieh, John and Newman, David (eds.), How Asia Votes, New York, Seven Bridges Press, pp. 32–49.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Robert (1997), Modernization and Postmodernization, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2014), Political Marketing: Principles and Applications, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Liao, Da-chi and Po-yu, Chen(廖達琪 & 陳柏宇) (2013), ‘Internet: A Tool for Mobilizing the Politically Marginalized’ (網路: 政治邊陲者的動員工具), Internet Democracy (網路民主), Wunan, Taipei, pp. 101–28.Google Scholar
Lucardie, Paul (2000), ‘Prophets, Purifiers and Prolocutors: Towards a Theory of the emergence of New Parties’, Party Politics, 6 (2): 175–85.Google Scholar
Meguid, Bonnie (2008), Party Competition between Unequals: Strategies and Electoral fortunes in Western Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller-Rommel, Ferdinand, ‘The new challengers: Explaining the Success of Green and Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe’, in Laurent, Annie and Villalba, Bruno (eds.), Les Petit Partis, Paris: L’Harmattan, 1998, pp. 119–41.Google Scholar
Pan, Han-sheng (2006), ‘Where the Air Is Thin and Polluted, Create the Oxygen to Produce a Rainbow’ (空氣稀薄更加污濁, 製造氧氣催生彩虹), http://2012.greenparty.org.tw/index.php/election/election-database/2006election/488–20061214.Google Scholar
Rigger, Shelley (2001), From Opposition to Power: Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rüdig, Wolfgang (2012), ‘The Perennial Success of the German Greens’, Environmental Politics, 21 (1): 108–30.Google Scholar
Spoon, Jae Jae (2011), Political Survival of Small Parties in Europe, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar