Managing conflict through civic participation: Taiwan’s civic-embedded diplomacy and the transformation of authority after martial law

Forty years after the lifting of Martial Law, Taiwan’s diplomacy exemplifies how post-authoritarian societies reshape authority through civic participation. This paper asks: How has Taiwan used public diplomacy to manage identity-based conflict and mitigate regional threat perceptions? It argues that Taiwan’s civic-embedded public diplomacy (CEPD) offers a distinct post-authoritarian model of conflict resolution in East Asia. Drawing on conceptual frameworks of threat perception and relational structure, the study reinterprets conflict resolution as the management of identity-based insecurities rather than the mediation of armed disputes. Within this framework, public diplomacy functions as a relational practice of security through which states negotiate legitimacy, authority, and identity. The framework situates Taiwan’s public diplomacy in contrast to China’s state-centric model, which reinforces hierarchical authority through a peaceful-rise narrative aimed at legitimizing its power status. Taiwan’s CEPD extends democratic participation into the international arena, involving civil society and cultural institutions as diplomatic actors. Taiwan’s CEPD thereby strengthens domestic legitimacy while managing regional tensions through the normalization of its international visibility. By connecting conflict resolution with Taiwan’s post-authoritarian transformation, it demonstrates that authority in Taiwan is evolving from state control to civic participation, offering insights into regional security and identity politics in East Asia.