Home : Book details : Book description

Description of  Social Forces in the Re-Making of Cross-Strait Relations (Routledge Research on Taiwan Series)

1032498005 rar Adopting a critical political economy perspective this book sheds new light on the social and political struggles that shaped the political dynamics of Taiwan-China relations and cross-Strait rapprochement between 2008 and 2014. Presenting a careful analysis of primary sources and interviews, the book reconstructs the historical, political and socio-economic factors that shaped Taiwans path to the Sunflower Movement of 2014, reinterpreting this process as a struggle over Taiwans role in the global economy. It challenges received wisdoms regarding the rise and fall of the rapprochement: First, the study argues that the rapprochement was not primarily driven by political elites but by capitalist conglomerates within Taiwan, which sought a normalisation of economic relations across the Taiwan Strait. Second, it finds that Taiwans social movements during that period were not homogeneous but rather struggled to find a common vision that could unite the critics of the rapprochement. Read more