Authoritarianism and the Social Insurance State: The Case of Taiwan

Abstract

When one looks at the developmental history of the Taiwanese state, a contrast can be made with Singapore. While the PAP in Singapore wrestles with the key question of nation-building in the early years of its rule, the KMT (Kuomintang) in Taiwan has struggled under a survival orientation. The Taiwanese state has faced archrival Communist China in the past 50 years. Such military threat instilled a survival instinct in the minds of the ruling party. With its very strong emphasis on military spending and national defence, the authoritarian-developmental state in Taiwan soon embarked on the road of capitalist development as well as on the creation of a social-insurance state for its major constituencies. In the beginning, it granted special welfare favours to only selected groups of people. Social insurance was the mode of intervention. Social welfare services such as education and public health were made a priority because capitalist development required an educated, healthy, and highly motivated workforce.