Customer Reviews

Elections and Democracy in Greater China (Studies on Contemporary China (Oxford Paperback))

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This book contains seven essays by various scholars on the development of democracy in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the PRC. Each of the essays is readable and well-researched. In two cases -- in an essay by Richard Baum on the real meaning of Hong Kong's 1998 legislative elections and in the essay by Tianjian Shi on the compatibility of democracy with modern cultural values in the PRC -- I found the book changed the way I previously thought about the issues.

Unfortunately, Taiwan's stunning democratic development over the last two decades is ignored. Of the seven essays in the book, four are about the PRC, two are on Hong Kong, but only one deals with Taiwan -- and that piece is about the development of democracy during the martial law era, which ended in 1987. This is an important and interesting subject, but why wasn't anything added to the volume dealing with more current developments on the island? Given that Taiwan has gone much further along the path to consolidating its democracy than either Hong Kong or the PRC, it seems a fuller treatment of its experience should have been provided.