Measuring and Explaining the Electoral Fortunes of Small Parties in Taiwan’s Party Politics

Over the last two and a half decades the Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party have dominated Taiwan’s party system. From 2008-2012 they were the only parties represented in the Legislative Yuan. Nevertheless, there have been periods in which other parties have had a significant impact on the party system. These parties have received considerable media attention during and between campaigns, won significant numbers of parliamentary and local assembly seats, and affected the Taiwanese political agenda. In this paper I assess the impact of these small parties on the party system and offer some explanations for their electoral successes and failures over the last decade