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BECKERSHOFF, André. 2023. Social Forces in the Re-making of Cross-strait Relations: Hegemony and Social Movements in Taiwan. London: Routledge

Mariah Thornton
p. 92-93
Bibliographical reference

BECKERSHOFF, André. 2024. Social Forces in the Re-making of Cross-strait Relations: Hegemony and Social Movements in Taiwan. London: Routledge.

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1Social Forces in the Re-making of Cross-strait Relations traces the historical formation of material and ideological factors that facilitated the normalisation of cross-strait exchanges in the Ma Ying-jeou era and the role of social movements in this process. Beckershoff confronts the question of how closer ties with China evolved from a matter previously viewed in Taiwan as highly political and concerning national security to a matter of apolitical mutual benefit. The latter narrative appeared to woo the Taiwanese electorate sufficiently to hand Ma and his party (the Kuomintang) a landslide victory in 2008. Beckershoff rightly problematises the notion of this extraordinary transformation across Taiwanese society as being either natural or inevitable.

2Operationalising a Gramscian framework (1971), Beckershoff traces the origins of the normalisation of cross-strait relations – what he terms a “hegemonic project” – from Japanese colonisation and the Kuomintang’s (KMT) establishment of the Republic of China government in Taiwan up to the 2014 Sunflower Movement. Positing a praxeological and dialectical approach to Gramscian hegemony, Beckershoff explores how the hegemonic project of depoliticising cross-strait relations and the social movements that emerged in resistance to this project co-evolved over time (p. 27-8). In so doing, Beckershoff seeks to illuminate the workings of hegemony itself (p. 29).

3Rooted in rigorous empirical and theoretical analysis, Social Forces in the Re-making of Cross-strait Relations offers several contributions that resonate not only within Taiwan studies, but also extend to the fields of international political sociology, international political theory, and beyond. At an empirical level, the book builds on the literature of Taiwan social movements by synthesising the historical trajectories of the Wild Strawberry Movement (ye caomei xueyun 野草莓學運), the Anti-media Monopoly Movement (fan meiti longduan yundong 反媒體壟斷運動), the Sunflower Movement (taiyanghua xueyun 太陽花學運), and other related movements. Beckershoff deftly compares the dialectal dynamics between each social movement and the broader hegemonic project of cross-strait integration led by an alliance of elites spanning business and politics. In so doing, Beckershoff recentres the agency of Taiwanese civil society in shaping cross-strait integration, challenging the argument that these social movements were powerless against the ambitions of the KMT and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The analysis draws from an impressive range of historical and contemporary sources alike to compellingly illustrate what historical sociologists would term a “causal package” of enduring importance. The empirical and theoretical interventions made by Social Forces in the Re-making of Cross-strait Relations bring to mind Gerry Groot’s Managing Transitions (2004), which similarly leveraged Gramscian concepts of hegemony and corporatism to present a theoretically rich and historically detailed account of the CCP’s united front work.

4At a theoretical level, the book bridges two broad literatures within Gramscian scholarship – studies exploring domination, and those examining social resistance – by recentring the material and dialectical nature of both hegemonic and counter-hegemonic movements. The empirical analysis holds true to its promised contribution, tracing the roles of economic institutions such as Farmers Associations during Japanese colonisation and the KMT’s programme of land reform in establishing the socioeconomic pretext for the later development of a pro-cross-strait integration apparatus. Beckershoff likewise captures valuable insights from activists across the Wild Strawberry Movement, Anti-media Monopoly Movement, and Sunflower Movement that illustrate how participants articulated their identities against the backdrop of cross-strait integration. This opens up pathways for researchers to further develop the relationship(s) between hegemony and counter-hegemony, not only in the context of Taiwan, but potentially in other cases as well.

5This focus on the dialectical and praxeological nature of hegemony should not obscure another related theoretical intervention offered by the book: the operationalisation of theorists Rosa Luxemburg and Henri Lefebvre, to highlight two key insights. The first is how social resistance may take different forms but ultimately is a continuous process characterised by “latent and open phases” (p. 34). The second is how resistance presents a channel through which one can uncover the ways in which hegemony operates (p. 28). This presents compelling theoretical and methodological insights that can be built upon across other disciplines.

6Despite the many and significant contributions offered by the text, the analysis encounters some limitations. It is evident that the key task of the cross-strait integration project was to organise, through material and ideological means, the consent of Taiwanese society around the normalisation of relations with China (p. 30). Yet it remains unclear why the project succeeded in certain cases, such as the Wild Strawberry Movement, while failing in others. The perspectives of the social movement activists as well as the discourses, policies, and institutions of the cross-strait hegemonic project are well articulated in this story. But while this evidence clearly highlights the dialectic hegemony theorised by the author, it falls short of clearly establishing the exact mechanisms through which the consent of the Taiwanese people was won. Incorporating middle ground perspectives beyond the socioeconomic elites and the social movement activists is crucial to this point. This presents an invitation for further research in gathering a broader range of perspectives across Taiwanese society to establish evidence of a “common sense” on cross-strait relations at this time.

7Even so, the book presents a thorough and convincing dialogue between theory and evidence that offers answers to the question of how cross-strait relations came to be viewed as a technical, nonpolitical matter through which Taiwanese society could reap substantial benefits. It moves a debate on the agency and power of social movements in shaping cross-strait relations, an issue that has far-reaching implications for Taiwan’s future. The text is a tremendous interdisciplinary asset that appeals not only to scholars of Taiwan, China, and cross-strait relations, but also to international studies, political theory, and historical sociology.

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Bibliography

GRAMSCI, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers.

GROOT, Gerry. 2013. Managing Transitions: The Chinese Communist Party, United Front Work, Corporatism and Hegemony. London: Routledge.

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References

Bibliographical reference

Mariah Thornton, BECKERSHOFF, André. 2023. Social Forces in the Re-making of Cross-strait Relations: Hegemony and Social Movements in Taiwan. London: RoutledgeChina Perspectives, 139 | 2024, 92-93.

Electronic reference

Mariah Thornton, BECKERSHOFF, André. 2023. Social Forces in the Re-making of Cross-strait Relations: Hegemony and Social Movements in Taiwan. London: RoutledgeChina Perspectives [Online], 139 | 2024, Online since 01 December 2024, connection on 16 February 2025. URL: http://0-journals-openedition-org.catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/chinaperspectives/17519; DOI: https://0-doi-org.catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/10.4000/130gx

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About the author

Mariah Thornton

Mariah Thornton is a PhD candidate at the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Houghton Street, London, United Kingdom (M.Thornton1@lse.ac.uk).

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Copyright

The text and other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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