ASSESSING TAIWAN's SECOND TRANSITION OF POWER:
A turning point in Taiwan's political development?

Power Transitions and Elite Mobility

Yung-Ming Hsu and Houng-Chang Chen

Abstract
The fact that Taiwan’s political parties have already gone through two power transfers is viewed as a model of democratic consolidation. Nevertheless, the second power transfer of 2008 was accompanied by a one-party monopoly along with weak opposition forces. The purpose of this paper is to compare the differences regarding patterns of elite mobility between 2000 and 2008 in Taiwan. In 2000, it is the first time that the DPP gained the power of the central government. Meanwhile, Taiwan also experienced the first-time power transfer. Eight years later, the KMT regained the power in 2008’s presidential election. In contrast to The DPP, the KMT is not the first time to enjoy the power. This paper will use the empirical data to discuss the differences regarding patterns of elite mobility between 2000 and 2008 in Taiwan.

Yung-Ming Hsu
Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Soochow University, Taiwan.

Houng-Chang Chen
PhD Student at the Department of Political Science, National Chengchi University, Taiwan.

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