Semi-peripheral ascent and changes in national social formation : the case of Taiwan (1987/88-2007)

Abstract

The thesis uses Taiwan as a case study to examine the following argument: both the changes to the capitalist world-system and the political dynamics of domestic statecapital- labour relations determine national capitalist development and ascent trajectory. Taiwan was chosen as a case study because it demonstrates the particular developmental trajectory of semi-peripheral ascent (ascent from the semi-periphery) and of a rising East Asian economy. I study the case by firstly analysing Taiwan’s peripheral ascent (from the periphery to the semi-periphery) in the historical process. Secondly the thesis studies three sectors as a national case, namely the industrial sector, the financial sector, and the labour sector. The three sectors demonstrate the dynamics of a semi-peripheral ascent trajectory as they represent the development of industrial production, financial expansion, and anti-systemic movements, which are all keys to influence semi-peripheral ascent. The thesis finds that although there are opportunities for Taiwan’s semi-peripheral ascent, Taiwan has not yet ascended to the core. The reasons are (1) the state’s restrictions on the overseas expansion of Taiwanese industrial capital and financial capital, in particular to China; (2) Taiwanese industrial capital and financial capital still rely on capital from the core zone. The thesis therefore contributes to the study of semi-peripheral ascent by adding analysis of domestic state-capital-labour relations into the context of a changing capitalist world-system.