In the Wake of the Sunflower Movement: Exploring the Political Consequences of Cross-Strait Integration

On October 17-18, 2014 the Taiwan Democracy Project at CDDRL, with the generous support of the Taipei Economic and Culture Office, hosted its annual conference at Stanford University to examine the politics of polarization in Taiwan.

This conference brought together specialists from Taiwan, the U.S., and elsewhere in Asia to examine the sources and implications of this political polarization in comparative perspective. It will include a special case study of the Trade in Services Agreement with China that triggered this past year’s protests, as well as a more general overview of the politics of trade liberalization in Taiwan, prospects for Taiwan’s integration into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other regional trade agreements, and a consideration of the implications for Taiwan’s long-term democratic future.

Pei-shan Lee (李佩珊) is a Professor of Political Science at National Chung Cheng University in Chiayi, Taiwan, where she is also a faculty affiliate of the Institute of Strategic and International Affairs. Dr. Lee specializes in East Asian political economy, constitutional choices in democratization, and regional cooperation in Asia. She holds a Ph.D. in political science (1999) from the University of Pennsylvania.