Intellectuals, Under The Authoritarian Regime In Taiwan

The combined effects of a variety of factors result in Taiwan's political transition. From a macro perspective, the development of market economy, the rise of civil society and the formation of cultural diversity can be counted as the conditions of Taiwan's political transition. From a micro perspective, Taiwan's political transition can be seen as the result of the long-term struggle and compromise between the authorities and the opposition who eagerly demand democracy. Although the role of intellectuals has attracted the attention of many researchers in their micro studies, there is a lack of systematic research works. Taking the Lei Chen case as an example, this paper tries to find out the role of intellectuals in the Taiwan authoritarian regime and their contribution to Taiwan's political transition.This paper consists of introduction, conclusion and four chapters. Before the case study, chapter one focuses on the political traditions of Chinese intellectuals and the structure of Taiwan's authoritarian regime. The Chinese intellectual is a social group with deep political tradition, that they care about the social realities and public affairs, and take a critical attitude to the real politics. This kind of political tradition, combined with the influence of the western freedom and democracy thoughts leads to an internal conflict between them and the authoritarian regime which carry out a tight control to the society.Chapter two and three are the main part of this paper focusing on the case study of Lei Chen. Lei Chen is an outstanding representative of Taiwan intellectuals, the magazine "Free China" which he is in charged of unremittingly criticizes Taiwan's authoritarian regime, and he also participates in and leads the first democracy movement under Taiwan's authoritarian regime- the formation of "Chinese Democratic Party". Through detailed study of Lei Chen's political thoughts and political activities after he goes to Taiwan and the conflict between him and the authoritarian regime, this paper reveals the role of Lei Chen in Taiwan's authoritarian regime.To make up for the insufficiency of case study, chapter four uses a comparative method to analyze Hu Shih, Yin Hai-Kuang, Wu Kuo-Cheng and Lei Chen. This paper finds that intellectuals play different roles in Taiwan's authoritarian regime: Yin Hai-Kuang plays the "external system" opponent role like Lei Chen; Wu Kuo-Cheng plays an "internal system" adviser; unlike the others, Hu Shih's role is between the "external system" and the "internal system", more like a friend who gives forthright admonition to the politicians.Based on the analysis of the intellectuals, this paper finds that the intellectuals have promoted Taiwan's political transition in two aspects. Firstly, the intellectuals wage a long war on Taiwan's authoritarian regime, they spread the concept of freedom and democracy to the mass, this can be viewed as enlightenment to Taiwan people, and by doing that they help the formation of a democratic political culture. This is an important prerequisite of the Taiwan political transition. Secondly, the democratic value spread by intellectuals promotes the development of the democratic movement and the growth of democratic forces; further, by participating in the democratic movements, intellectuals form a part in the democratic forces. The growing of the democratic forces poses a direct threat to the authoritarian regime; they force the Taiwan authorities to take the "political reform", thus promote Taiwan's political transition.On the basis of case study and comparative study, this paper draws the conclusion that the intellectual is an important force what operates the function of check and balance to the authoritarian regime; and intellectual is the key factor what makes the authoritarian regime keep stabilization or peaceably achieves political transition.