Taiwanesisk identitet under konstruktion? : - En kvalitativ textanalys av den taiwanesiska identitetens uppkomst med utgångspunkt i konstruktivismen

Sammanfattning: Taiwan has over the past thirty years experienced a substantial political transformation. Being ruled by Chinese nationalists since World War II, Taiwan started its democratic transition in the late eighties. The new democratic system did not only provide people with freedom to vote, it also marked the beginning of a search for a new national identity. Based on the international theory of constructivism, this paper defines and studies the Taiwanese people’s progression away from a dominant Chinese national identity towards a uniquely defined Taiwanese identity. The purpose of this study is to understand the causes of the shifting national identity from a constructivist point of view. By using keywords within the theory of constructivism this paper studies major historical events that shaped and altered the national identity of Taiwan. These events include the democratization process as well as Taiwan’s changing relations to mainland China. Constructivist theory primarily suggests two important aspects in order to understand the shifting identity. These include the importance of the constructed political institutions in the form of political parties during the democratization process, as well as the cultural influence on the Taiwanese people correlated with the lifting of the ban on travel to China in the late eighties.