The formation of national identity in Taiwan.

Abstract

In this dissertation, I argue that identity politics in Taiwan, including partisan identity, choice of national identity, and group preferences, are indispensable for individuals coping with an uncertain environment: identification is necessary to reduce uncertainty and to provide guidelines for evaluating related interests, as well as for predicting possible consequences. Assuming that achieving enlightened learning relies on democratic deliberation, I identify this process as the constant theme in the democratization of Taiwan. To construct this individual learning model in a dynamic sense, I first employ mathematical modeling to materialize previous concepts in a consistent and chronological structure. Next, I identify a nonlinear dynamic model confirming these refined behavioral propositions and demonstrating that enlightened learning, manifested as acquisition of a Taiwanese identity, is the rationale behind related political movements, such as the resulting issue convergence and stationary partisanship. Based on these individual-level understandings, I argue that democratic evolution acts as a self-selection or learning process aggregating the possible paths of further political developments.