Taiwan's Green Parties: Alternative Politics in Taiwan, by Dafydd Fell

Silvia Frosina
2021 European Journal of East Asian Studies  
Formal organisation and evolution into political parties have always been matters of great concern for social movements. While 'old' social movements' activity situated in labour issues and class struggle, giving institutions and organisations such as labour unions and political parties a central role, 'new' social movements-that aim at advancing identity and quality-of-life issues such as gender, lgbt rights and environmental protection-often struggle to strike a balance between keeping
more » ... ed to their activist roots and the decision of entering the electoral arena. In his book, Taiwan's Green Parties: Alternative Politics in Taiwan, Dafydd Fell's account of the Green Party Taiwan (gpt) offers a picture of how such tensions can affect the existence and electoral fortunes of movement-parties in a relatively young democracy. Drawing on nearly a decade of fieldwork, Fell engages with some of the central questions in global party politics and the niche party literature. He explores not only the Greens' evolution from movement to party, but also their overall impact on the Taiwanese political system, their international engagement and the topic of party change-namely, how the gpt has adjusted its issue emphasis and campaign strategies over time, its changing human face and organisation. The book is composed of seven parts and fifteen chapters. Part i introduces the main frameworks of analysis, the fieldwork methods and data, and addresses the question of party formation by tracing the establishment of the gpt in 1996 and of its splinter party, the Trees Party, in 2014. This section is essential for the reader to get a clear sense of the main theories on party formation, party lifespan and impact evaluation. Part ii goes into the core of the discussion by analysing the changing impact and human faces of the Green Party over its twenty-four-year-long existence. It first looks at 'what' the gpt is, by focusing on its electoral impacts, campaigns, media attention and interna-
doi:10.1163/15700615-02002014 fatcat:fey6lict4zfwjl64qc7yvsntym