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Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Taiwan Edited by Gunter Schubert London and New York : Routledge , 2016 xviii + 570 pp. £150.00 ISBN 978-1-138-78187-0
Book Reviews
Part of a collection of over 600 already published Routledge Handbooks that attempt to be as comprehensive and scholarly reliable as possible on a particular topic, the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Taiwan is an important contribution to Taiwan studies. Edited by Gunter Schubert, head of the European Research Centre on Contemporary Taiwan at the University of Tübingen, this title not only aims to offer an overview of the major facets of the island state, but also to summarize major findings in the fields covered and highlight the long-term trends at play.
To achieve this tour de force, and what I would qualify as a mini-encyclopaedia, Schubert has mobilized around 40 of the best Taiwan experts, from Europe, North America and of course Taiwan itself. The book's 34 chapters are organized in six parts: political history (five chapters), government and politics (seven), political economy (three), society and culture (nine), cross-Strait relations (four) and international relations and security (six).
Edited by a political scientist, Contemporary Taiwan has a strong political flavour, which...