State Transformation and the Evolution of Economic Nationalism: the Taiwanese Semiconductor Industry as Case Study

Jinn-yuh Hsu

This talk will examine the role of nationalism in the development of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. First, it demonstrates how the pre-1980s Taiwanese developmental state mobilized Chinese economic nationalism against Japanese colonialism and Chinese communism and adopted the strategies of graduated sovereignty, selectively subsidizing certain areas and sectors, and promoting national (homogeneously imagined) territorialization to integrate with the international market. Second, the paper exhibits how in the late 1980s, when the outflow of capital to Mainland China became a compelling phenomenon, Taiwan democratized, popular sovereignty became the norm, and Taiwanese nationalism emerged. In response, the democratized state started employing Taiwanese economic nationalism and implementing populist territorial policies to consolidate the supports of “us” (the Taiwanese/Taiwan) versus “them” (the Chinese/China). This made China and everything related a security concern that had to be excluded as “the other”. By the empirical research, it will give nationalism a central place in contemporary theories of the nation-state and contributes to the theory of the developmental state by bringing “the nation” back. While most of the existing developmental state literature focuses on how the role and effect of “the state” influence economic development, taking “the nation” seriously will provide more accurate explanations for how and why the state focuses on development or not. Accordingly, through valuing the nation this paper promotes a theory of the developmental nation-state.

Dr. Jinn-yuh Hsu received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997. He has focused his research on the inconstant geographies of capitalism since he started his dissertation writing in 1995. Dr. Hsu has published a series of papers (both in Chinese and English) on the spatial politics of the state transformation in Taiwan. He is working on a book project to explore the comparative study of special economic zones in the Northeast Asia, particularly Taiwan and Korea.

Date & Time: Nov. 24(Thursday) 2016, 12:00-13:00
Location: SNUAC #406