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ABSTRACT
Does the experience of studying in Taiwan significantly enhance the degree to which Chinese students hold democratic beliefs? What are the factors that cause the change? By adopting a political socialization approach, a panel survey with Chinese students enrolled in short-term studies in Taiwan was conducted. The results indicated that 41.44% of the students showed no change in the degree to which they hold democratic beliefs, whereas the degree of democratic beliefs held reduced among 34.23% of the students and increased among 25.33% of the students. The regression model developed for this study can be used to explain 21.60% of the variance in the degree to which the students hold democratic beliefs. Six of the nine hypotheses tested are confirmed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Note on contributor
Chiachou Wang is Professor at Department of Public Policy and Management at I-Shou University and has recently published in the Journal of Contemporary China and China: An International Journal.
Notes
1. Chu, “The Taiwan Factor,” 42–56; Diamond, “The Coming Wave,” 5–13.
2. Economist Intelligence Unit, Democracy Index 2010, 3–5. The 2010 Index was used because the participants’ stay in Taiwan was from September 2010 to January 2011.
3. Lin, “ Wu Qingji,” 12.
4. Dawson and Prewitt, Political Socialization, 147.
5. Easton and Dennis, Children in the Political System, 7; Patrick, “Political Socialization,” 204–6.
6. Zhao and Xie, “Western Influence,” 523–4.
7. Wang, “Laitai Lusheng,” 100–2.
8. Han and Chen, “Who Supports Democracy?”
9. Louie, “Village Self-Governance,” 134–54.
10. Zhang, “Marketization,” 425–45.
11. Chen, “Rising-Class,” 141–62.
12. Han and Chen, “Who Supports Democracy?”
13. Voicu and Peral, “Support for Democracy,” 554–73.
14. Dahl, On Democracy, 156–8.
15. Huntington, The Third Wave, 69.
16. Huntington, “The Change to Change,” 310; Cho, “How Well Ordinary Citizens Understand Democracy.”
17. O'Donnell et al., Transition from Authoritarian Rule, 3–5
18. Przeworski, Democracy and the Market, 67–79.
19. Lipset and Lakin, The Democratic Century, 185.
20. Sheng, “Taiwan Minzhong,” 119–26.
21. Chang, “Xuanju Jieguo,” 110.
22. Letki, “Socialization for Participation,” 668; Wals, “Does What Happens.”
23. Greenstein, “Political Socialization,” 551.
24. Langton, “Peer Group,” 4.
25. Mishler and Rose, “Generation,” 822–34.
26. Jennings and Niemi, Generations and Politics, 20; Tyler and Schuller, “Aging and Attitude Change,” 689.
27. Quintelier et al., “Politics in Peer Groups”; Settle et al., “The Social Origins.”
28. Lewis-Beck et al., “A Chinese Popularity Function,” 19.
29. Langton, Political Socialization, 751–8.
30. Huckfeldt and Sprague, “Discussant Effects on Vote Choice,” 156.
31. Yu and Hsiao, “Yi Xinxuanmin,” 132–4.
32. Chen, “Minzhu Jingyan,” 22.
33. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice, 263–8.
34. Wang, “Laitai Lusheng,” 98.
35. Alba and Nee, “Rethinking Assimilation Theory,” 863.
36. Gordon, Assimilation in American Life, 70–1.
37. Nye, Soft Power, 11.
38. Sinkkonen, “Nationalism,” 1059.
39. The 12 “Project 985” universities are Harbin Institute of Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jilin University, Lanzhou University, Nanjing University, Northeastern University, Ocean University of China, Shandong University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Wuhan University, Xiamen University, and Xi'an Jiaotong University. The nine “Project 211” universities are Beijing Jiaotong University, Chang'an University, Communication University of China, Guangxi University, Guizhou University, Hefei University of Technology, Jinan University, Southwest Jiaotong University, and Southwest University. The other 12 universities are Anhui Science and Technology University, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Three Gorges University, China West Normal University, Guangdong Communications Polytechnic, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou University, Huaqiao University, Shantou University, Wenzhou Medical College, and Zhuhai College of Jilin University.
40. The result of the Asian Barometer Survey 2008 is available online and can be used for cross-tabulation analysis: http://www.jdsurvey.net/jds/jdsurveyAnalisis.jsp?ES_COL=101&Idioma=I&SeccionCol=05&ESID=503
