Political Reform in Taiwan and the International Human Rights Regime

Book excerpt: This collection of essays brings together several papers published by the author in the past 45 years, arranged chronologically, so the reader will follow the unfolding development of the author’s thinking on the issues discussed here. The essays primarily investigate the political reform promoted by intellectuals and the professional classes in Taiwan beginning in the 1970s and the introduction of a national human rights commission in the 1990s. The latter is here analysed under three headings: the creation of a national human rights commission; the drafting and review by foreign experts of the national reports on two international human rights covenants; and the handling of transitional justice. This book will be useful for historians and social scientists of 20th century Taiwan, as well as anyone interested in contemporary politics in the state.