Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Party Formation

by Lev Nachman, James Lin (series_editor), William Lavely (series_editor)

Where statehood is contested, questions of identity and territory define the political landscape

Despite maintaining de facto sovereignty, states like Taiwan find themselves unrecognized in today’s international system because another power claims the state as part of their territory. This fraught status, in turn, significantly affects the domestic politics of these places.

Lev Nachman’s exploration of Taiwan’s political landscape after the 2014 Sunflower Movement brings a fresh perspective to understanding social movement mobilization and political party formation in what he terms “contested states.” In these states, political cleavages are defined not by traditional left-right issues but by questions of identity, territory, and what to do about the country that claims them. Drawing from 150 interviews with Taiwanese activists and politicians, as well as a comparative analysis of Ukraine, Nachman reveals that traditional political science theories fall short when explaining the formation of movement parties in such contexts. Instead, he argues, looming existential threats and strained relationships between activists and established proindependence parties drive social movements into formal political arenas.

Contested Taiwan offers a new approach to understanding contested statehood, movement party formation, and what motivates individuals to take political action across the world.

226 pages, Hardcover

First published August 19, 2025

Reviews

[Eva S · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is rare to have an academic book in political science dedicated to Taiwan AND be such a thoughtful read! A must read for any comparative politics fan or geopolitics enthusiast. If you follow the war in Ukraine and are concerned about Taiwan this book is especially worth your time.

[David Frazier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nachman is a go-to commentator on Taiwanese public opinion and elections, and I really wanted to like his book, but he is clearly publishing here as part of the academic career game and not to please readers. Out of 158 pages of text before footnotes, there’s maybe 40-50 pages of actual content, and it’s buried in huge amounts of filler. If you bother to sort the wheat from the chaff, you’ll find that the actual research is about a third party in Taiwanese politics, the New Power Party (NPP), that had its moment in the sun from 2016-2020 but now barely exists, so the relevance to Taiwan’s current political situation is tenuous. The filler is, first of all, huge amounts of redundancy and fluffy language. Then you have an over-general history of Taiwan’s post martial law politics (there’s much better out there, even on Wikipedia), a long chapter on Ukrainian politics (just… why?!), and his fairly boring and technical argument about “movement parties” in “contested states” (poli-sci nerd stuff), which is actually fine, only he kept beating it like a dead horse. I feel like he could’ve condensed this to a tight 60-70 pages and then it would be good, albeit niche, but maybe he’s going for tenure or whatever.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better works of political science and sociology done on Taiwanese social movements and political parties. It is an academic book, so be prepared for theoretically driven frameworks and empirical setup that might scare off those who struggle with academic writing. This book poses bigger, more heady questions about statehood and civil society that will be difficult for those who are used to simple writing and storytelling.

The discussion on contested statehood was particularly helpful for my understanding of Taiwan. I found the comparison chapter with Ukraine to be particularly thoughtful. There seems to be plenty or shallow comparisons of Taiwan and Ukraine, but this one went far beyond just great power competition in comparing their mutual contested dilemmas.

Overall this is a great academic study of Taiwan, and I highly recommend it for those familiar and new to Taiwan alike.

[Bea · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Taiwan politics junkie, I found this endorsement from Dr. Joseph Wong to be the best summary of why this is a great book:

"With a political ethnographer’s eye, Lev Nachman offers an original take on the evolution of Taiwan’s democracy over the past decade. Against the backdrop of Taiwan’s ‘contested’ statehood, Nachman explains why emergent social movements outside of the formal political arena end up becoming political parties. His perspective, drawing on years of intensive fieldwork, provides deep insight into political activism in Taiwan, one of the world’s most vulnerable yet defiantly resilient democracies."

[Aimen Lau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contested Taiwan is a fascinating and thoughtful examination of Taiwan’s politics and social movements and the dynamics between the two. While an academic book, it still quite accessible and I enjoyed reading the histories of Taiwan’s party formation.

I appreciated contextualizing Taiwan’s politics and contested status within a comparative analysis with Ukraine that went beyond the usual framework of discussions of war and U.S. relations.

[Syntaxx · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent deep-dive into the origins and goals of the Sunflower movement in Taiwan