Democratization in Divided Nations: Comparing the Impact of National Identity on Democratic Development between Taiwan and South Korea

Taiwan and South Korea are ideal cases for the most similar comparative design. First, the two countries experienced similar democratic transitional processes, and today are regarded as the most successful third-wave democracies in East Asia. Second, they share common historical experiences, including Japanese colonial rule, national divisions caused by the Cold War, the rule of anti-communist authoritarian regimes, and state-led modernization. Among these commonalities, the divided nationhood and the legacy of authoritarianism have shaped identity political cleavages in Taiwan and South Korea, but the two countries have diverged in regard to their national identities and identity politics. In Taiwan, the contending identity between the Taiwanese and Chinese and the division between Taiwan independence and Chinese unification are salient debates between the KMT and the DPP. In contrast, South Korea lacks sharp cleavages over national identity and unification, yet the political divisions based on South Korea-U.S. and North Korea–South Korea relations still plays an important role in South Korea’s identity politics.

Based on this difference in identity politics, my study hypothesizes that national identity cleavages in Taiwan are more irreconcilable than in South Korea and uses two approaches to investigate whether such nonnegotiable cleavages will bring Taiwan’s democratic development more challenges than South Korea. First, a comparative historical approach will explain the divergent development of national identity cleavages, comparing the role of national identity in Taiwan’s and South Korea’s democratic developments. Second, a quantitative approach will analyze if national identity cleavages correlate with political polarization in Taiwan and South Korea by testing their effect on democratic values.