ABSTRACT
Taiwan presents one of the most fascinating and challenging cases for the study of identity in the social sciences. Politically, this is because it has the qualities of a sovereign state but its government works within the framework of a constitution that is supposed to cover the whole of China (Hughes 2000: 63–65). Culturally it arises from a tenuous historical relationship, not only with China but also with Japan, that makes it, above all, a ‘frontier’ society (Harrison 2006: 2). Economically it is shaped by the island’s integration into both global trade and production networks and the growing Chinese economy. In the field of international relations it is determined by the island’s pivotal geostrategic location and the tension between Chinese claims to sovereignty and US commitments to the island’s security. This chapter will explain how this situation has arisen and the dynamics of identity politics that it has created from the end of World War II to the present day.
