Passive Revolution: The Retreat of the Taiwanese Developmetal State Since 1990s

Since the late 1980s, under the “double squeeze” of democratization and globalization, it is undeniable that the developmental state in Taiwan has undergone significant transformation along the course of economic development. Yet a nagging question remains unanswered is how to comprehend this transformation. It is to illuminate and conceptualize this transformation of the developmental state to which this paper is devoted. More substantively, based on the policy regime approach, the main research objective is to investigate the changing role of the state in fulfilling the dual and often contradictory function of accumulation and legitimation (especially since the 1990s). Three strategic research sites can be chosen: accumulation regime, welfare regime and fiscal regime. Whereas by examining the accumulation regime helps us understand how the state involves in promoting capital accumulation, the welfare regime characterizes the state's pursuit of legitimation. And in order to decipher the tension of accumulation/legitimation nexus, the fiscal regime is accordingly examined. The main concern of fiscal politics are to discover the principles governing the volume and allocation of state finances and expenditures and the distribution of tax burden among various economic classes. Fiscal regime is therefore the linchpin among all the three policy regimes to help us identify the action of the state.