Special Lecture by Yu-Shan Wu on "Paradigm Shift in Taiwan Politics: From Identity to Distribution"

The China Policy Institute is pleased to announce that Yu-Shan Wu is Distinguished Research Fellow and Director of the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, will be presenting in a series of Taiwan Studies lectures on "Paradigm Shift in Taiwan Politics: From Identity to Distribution".

Abstract :Politics in Taiwan has become quite different. Whereas in the past, the main focus of political contest was identity, nowadays it has shifted to distribution. Three factors are conducive to this paradigm shift: economic slowdown, exhaustion from identity mobilization, and cross-Strait rapprochement. Although there are unmistakable signs of an ongoing paradigm shift, the old identity cleavage remains visible. New politics and old politics thus compete for supremacy and crisscross each other. The result of this competition would have lasting impact on Taiwan's political development and on cross-Strait relations.

Short Bio: Yu-Shan Wu is distinguished research fellow and director of the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC. He is also a jointly appointed professor at the Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University (NTU). He was convener of political science at the National Science Council (NSC) in Taiwan and Secretary General of the Chinese Political Science Association (Taipei). Among the many academic awards he received are the Outstanding Researcher Award (NSC), Lifetime Academic Award (Ministry of Education), Distinguished Research Award (NSC, three-time recipient), and Outstanding Teaching Award (NTU). His major interests are in political and economic transitions in former socialist countries, democratic consolidation and constitutional engineering in nascent democracies, and theories of cross Taiwan Strait relations. He is a leading figure in the study of comparative semi-presidentialism and theorization of cross- Strait research in Taiwan. His area focuses are Taiwan, mainland China, Eastern Europe and Russia. He has authored and edited fourteen books and published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. His most recent books are Semi- Presidentialism and Democracy (co-edited with Robert Elgie and Sophia Moestrup, 2011), In Search of China’s Development Model: Beyond the Beijing Consensus (co-edited with S. Philip Hsu and Suisheng Zhao, 2011), and Where is Power? Semi- presidentialism in Multiple Perspectives (co-edited with Yu- chung Shen, 2012).