A Leninist Democrat? Taiwan’s Democratisation Defined Through Sun Yat-sen

Abstract In 1924, during the First United Front under Soviet auspices between the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party, Sun Yat-sen, founder of the former, introduced Leninist organisational principles such as the dangguo (party-state), vanguardism, and democratic centralism into his party. Concurrently, Sun systemised his ideas on democracy through a series of lectures on his doctrine of minquan (democracy) and the Outline for National Reconstruction , a treatise proscribing a three-step democratisation process leading to xianzheng (constitutional governance). This essentially created a ‘democratic promise’ to be fulfilled. This article explores the seemingly contradictory influences of Sun’s ideas on authoritarian and democratic developments in Taiwan and reveals his enduring impact on Taiwan’s political institutions and norms.