In 1986, Taiwan’s dictator set the island’s democratization in motion — an unlikely story with consequences and lessons which echo to today.
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This video draws heavily from the excellent scholarship of Dan Slater and Joseph Wong in their compelling book, “From Development to Democracy,” which discusses much more than Taiwan and can be found here: https://amzn.to/3Ww2cQ2
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From 1949 to the 1990s, the Kuomintang ruled the island of Taiwan, first under Chiang Kai-shek and then under his son, Chiang Ching-kuo. The Chiangs and the KMT ruled with an iron fist, which makes their willing embrace of democracy in 1986 all that much more surprising.

This video tells the story of how Taiwan’s dictatorship transitioned to democracy not from a position of weakness but one of strength.

Spectacles is a love letter to democracy, its values, its caretakers, and its ideas. Around the world, individual rights and representative government are facing unprecedented attacks from the forces of reaction and revisionism. But despite liberal democracy’s real shortcomings and today’s all-too-fashionable cynicism, we remain committed to its preservation and improvement. Join us as we explore just what liberal democracy is, how it comes about, and how it can best be maintained in a changing world.
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00:00 INTRO
01:45 I - RELOCATION
04:00 II - REINVENTION
06:39 III - REVISION
09:26 IV - REALIGNMENT