Popular contentions within and without the authoritarian legitimacy : the case of Taiwan in the 1980s

Abstract

This thesis re-investigates the impact of popular contentions on authoritarian stability, specifically in the post-war context of Taiwan. Contrary to theories under the repression-resistance framework, it argues that the revolutionary threat posed by popular contention depends on the robustness of the authoritarian state's performance legitimacy. An authoritarian state with strong performance legitimacy redresses welfare grievances, thereby reducing the appeal of radical actions. The thesis supports this argument with episode analysis based on archival materials, documented by the secret police, on the interaction between welfare contentions and two types of opposition with distinct routes, wherein a liberalist one insisted on participating in the existing system while the other populist one advocated non-cooperative subversion. It finds that in the 1980s, the KMT’s performance legitimacy made the opposition incapable to weaponize welfare grievances into credible revolutionary threat of Taiwan independence, so that they could only pragmatically frame their Taiwan consciousness as general democratic demands according to the ROC constitution, to seek consensus with the KMT. This finding challenges the narrative that confrontation between Taiwanese local society and the "émigré" ROC regime drove democratization. Instead, it highlights a more possible causal mechanism that the endogenous factor of the regime’s needs to solve constitutional crisis and sustain its constitutional framework amid a divided nation facilitated the KMT to accept the opposition’s demand on realizing the democratic rights promised in the 1946 ROC constitution. This thesis therefore makes implications for future research on authoritarian-led democratization: The path to authoritarian-led democratization within well-governed regimes may hinge on whether there is a foundation of consensus making, between authoritarian legitimacy and society’s contentious claims, on extending political participation. A liberal-democratic constitution is more likely to promote such consensus foundation to emerge, whereas robust performance legitimacy could mitigate the appeal of radical action and thus facilitate the state to tolerate electoral pressure from moderate opposition.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Supervisor	Wenkai HE (Supervisor)