Fell, Dafydd 1970-

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Fell, Dafydd 1970-

PERSONAL:

Born May 14, 1970.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Centre for Financial and Management Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh St., Russell Sq., London WC1H 0XG, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London, England, Centre of Taiwan Studies (formerly the Taiwan Studies Programme), coordinator, 2003-06, deputy director, 2006—, Centre for Financial and Management Studies and Department of Political Studies, lecturer of Taiwan studies. Coordinator for the European Association of Taiwan Studies, 2003—.

WRITINGS:

Party Platform Change and the Democratic Evolution in Taiwan, 1991-2001, University of London (London, England), 2003, revised edition published as Party Politics in Taiwan: Party Change and the Democratic Evolution of Taiwan, 1991-2004, Routledge (New York, NY), 2005.

(Editor, with Henning Klöter and Chang Bi-yu) What Has Changed? Taiwan before and after the Change in Ruling Parties, Harrassowitz (Wiesbaden, Germany), 2006.

Contributor to academic journals. Editor of the "Research on Taiwan" book series published by Routledge, 2008—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Dafydd Fell is lecturer in Taiwan studies at the Centre for Financial and Management Studies and Department of Political Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. Since 2003 he has been the coordinator for the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies (formerly the Taiwan Studies Programme) and the European Association of Taiwan Studies at the university, and in 2006 he became the deputy director of the Centre of Taiwan Studies. Fell's main research area includes both the domestic and external politics of Taiwan. He has published several articles on political parties and electioneering in Taiwan. His debut book, Party Politics in Taiwan: Party Change and the Democratic Evolution of Taiwan, 1991-2004, was published in 2005, followed in 2006 by What Has Changed? Taiwan before and after the Change in Ruling Parties, which he coedited.

It is Fell's expertise in Taiwan's evolving political climate that helped shape Party Politics in Taiwan. The book, which is divided into eight chapters, is based on his extensive research on the subject; in addition to varied hard data (including party documents and advertisements), Fell provdes interviews with several major players in the Taiwanese political arena. The first chapter delves into the theoretical systems and the methodologies Fell uses, while the following seven chapters look at the Republic of China's political party system, the key issues that were instrumental in defining that system, and the steps taken by politicians and political groups to gain control of Taiwan's legislative and executive offices. "This is a skillfully presented and very well-organized book that moves from chapter to chapter smoothly and efficiently. It never buries its readers under mountains of data and thus is also a book that reads easily. Fell does not overwhelm the reader with jargon or with an overabundance of theory," commended critic Murray A. Rubinstein in a review of the book for Pacific Affairs.

What Has Changed?, which Fell edited with Henning Klöter and Chang Bi-yu, presents thirteen essays exploring the political, economic, social, and cultural history of Taiwan since the 1990s. The essays are also intended to compare the late years of the Kuomintang regime to the reign of the Democratic People's Party (which replaced the Kuomintang regime in the 2000 elections). Some of the topics touched on in these essays include party politics, relations with the People's Republic of China, financial reform, labor policy, Taiwan's feminist and environmental movements, national culture and the state, government policy on religion and language, and the role of Taiwan's Government Information Office in international propaganda affairs and domestic media control.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

China Quarterly, March, 2006, Yun-Han Chu, review of Party Politics in Taiwan: Party Change and the Democratic Evolution of Taiwan, 1991-2004, p. 189.

Pacific Affairs, spring, 2006, Murray A. Rubinstein, review of Party Politics in Taiwan.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2006, review of What Has Changed? Taiwan before and after the Change in Ruling Parties.