City Seminar focuses on development of Taiwan Democracy

Prof Yi-huah Jiang, Professor of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), also Former Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), presented the topic of The Successes and Failures of Taiwanese Democracy and Its Meaning at City Seminar. The event was held on 16th February and attracted over 160 guests, faculty members, alumni and students to attend.

Illustrating the meaning of democracy, Prof Jiang went through some milestones and significant developments of the democratization process in Taiwan. He explained how Taiwan could successfully transit from an authoritarian regime to a democratic society with fair elections, freedom of speech and press, and peaceful change of powers. However, Prof Jiang also pointed out the controversies in national identity and the cross-strait relations under the development of democracy in Taiwan.

Prof Jiang further elaborated the setbacks of the Taiwan democracy, such as the dysfunction of government administration, strong opposition between political parties, and severe manipulation of mass media, etc. He gave new insights on ways to overcome the current challenges in Taiwan and to strengthen the community.

Prof Jiang is currently a professor of CLASS at CityU. He previously held research position at the Institute of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the Academia Sinica, and taught at National Taiwan University. Before joining CityU, Prof Jiang was a visiting scholar at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, and at the Hoover Institution. He was also a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Prof Jiang’s academic interest lies in political philosophy, liberalism, democratic theory, national identity and Taiwanese politics. He has substantial contributions in journal articles and other publications.

During his public service years, Prof Jiang launched several important reforms and policies. From 2008 to 2014, Prof Jiang served as the Minister of Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, the Minister of the Interior, the Vice Premier, and the Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

About the City Seminar
The City Seminar 香港席明納 was initiated by Prof Houmin Yan, Dean of the College, with an aim to discuss topics together (席Xí), to understand such topics in depth (明Míng), and to gain something of value from the discussions (納Nà). The College will be inviting a number of professors and/or scholars to explore various topics during the series.

To review Prof Jiang's speech, please click here.
For more information about past and upcoming seminars, please visit the City Seminar website.