His re-election may have been relatively uneventful, but Ma Ying-jeou’s second term has been anything but, with numerous grassroots popular protests, plunging approval ratings and contestation within the KMT. Popular campaigns for a nuclear-free Taiwan, student mobilization against monopolization of the media market, stakeholders protesting land expropriation in Huaguang and Dapu, and general outrage over the questionable causes of the death of a young conscript are obvious manifestations of dissatisfaction with Ma’s governance and personal ineffectiveness. These specific issues punctuate general concerns over unfulfilled election promises regarding economic growth, frequent personal changes in the government and new concerns over cross-Strait policies. To make things worse, Ma is facing backlash from his so far unsuccessful attempt to purge the Speaker of the Legislative Yuan, Wang Jin-pyng, and related suspicions about abusing the Special Investigation Division for political purposes. Taiwan specialists contributing to this special issue will reflect on domestic political developments and their implications for cross-Strait relations and the 2014 local and 2016 presidential and legislative elections. It will run from October 9 to October 18.

Contributors:

Steve Tsang, Director of the Taiwan Studies Programme and the China Policy Institute.

Chien-min Chao, Director, Sun Yat-Sen Graduate Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, National Chengchi University

Yu-Shan Wu, Distinguished Research Fellow & Director, Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica.

Ming-sho Ho, Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University.

Paul Katz, Research Fellow, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica.

Ming-sung Kuo, Assistant Professor, School of Law, University of Warwick.

Sasa Istenic, Assistant Professor, Department of Asian and African Studies, University of Ljubljana.

Julie Yu-wen Chen, Lecturer, University College Cork.

Ketty W. Chen, Visiting Scholar, Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University.

Chun-yi Lee, Lecturer, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham.

Michal Thim, PhD Candidate, Taiwan Studies Programme, China Policy Institute.

Jonathan Sullivan, Associate Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham.

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