Cross-strait economic ties, Taiwan's domestic politics, and China-Taiwan relations, 1990 -- 2008

This dissertation examines the relationship between economic interdependence and peace, an important research topic in the field of international relations, by conducting a case study of China-Taiwan relations. The key question addressed in the dissertation is whether and how the growth of China-Taiwan economic ties in the period from 1990 to 2007 played a role in the emergence of significantly less confrontational China-Taiwan relations in 2008. By taking into account the interaction between international and domestic political economy, it finds that (1) the relationship between economic interdependence and peace does exist in the case of China-Taiwan relations; and (2) it is Taiwan's domestic politics, as it relates to the domestic conflicts between opposing political coalitions in Taiwan over the political relations and economic ties across the Taiwan Strait, that plays an important role as an intervening variable in such a relationship.