Should I Stay or Should I Go? Patterns of Party Switching in Multiparty Taiwan

Fell, Dafydd

Abstract

Patterns of party switching in Taiwan have played an important role in the development and relative stability of its party system. In this study I aim to track key patterns of how politicians switched their partisan affiliation during the critical periods of party system change. I examine the level of party switching, where party switching was most prevalent, when switching was most common, and the most common types of switching since the advent of multiparty politics in Taiwan. Party switching is an important phenomenon in the development of party politics in Taiwan but thus far it has received surprisingly little systematic attention. This is the first comprehensive attempt to tackle this understudied topic.

Citation

Fell, D. (2014). Should I Stay or Should I Go? Patterns of Party Switching in Multiparty Taiwan. The Journal of East Asian Studies, 14(1), 31-52. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1598240800009577

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Feb 25, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2025
• Print ISSN: 1598-2408
• Electronic ISSN: 2234-6643
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 31-52
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1598240800009577
• Keywords: Taiwan, party switching, party defections, Kuomintang, Democratic Progressive Party, party politics
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-east-asian-studies/article/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-patterns-of-party-switching-in-multiparty-taiwan/A34BA8D9610E4DD589C2ED81042B1B73