Democracy on trial [electronic resource] : social movements and cultural politics in postauthoritarian Taiwan / Ya-Chung Chuang.

Issued as part of UPCC book collections on Project MUSE.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-258) and index.

Preface -- Introduction -- Part I. State and civil society -- Democracy's dawn : "quiet revolution" in a national crisis -- Democracy in action : the making of social movement webs -- Talking democracy : from normalized political processes to politicized everyday life -- Part II. Identity and ethnicity -- Reflexive democracy : Bentu and its discontent -- Democracy as dream : ethnicity and the politics of recognition -- Part III. Place and politics -- (en)gendering democracy : Shequ and urban neighborhood organizing -- Walking democracy : street life and local politics in a Taipei neighborhood -- Epilogue : democracy unbound -- Endnotes -- Bibliography -- Index.

Writing "an ethnography of democracy," Ya-Chung Chuang masterfully describes and analyzes a multifaceted Taiwanese society. Contradicting mainstream research on political cultures, which relies heavily on survey data and statistical analysis, Ya-Chung Chuang produces an anthropologically inspired, contextually rich study using original source materials. He traces a genealogy of pivotal concepts, such as sovereignty, identity, and locality, at the heart of Taiwan's democratic discourse and relates the experience of democracy as "a way of life" from the viewpoints of a variety of subjects, including social movement participants, urban community members, and ethnic activists. His book explores the loaded meaning of democracy.

Description based on print version record.