Who Supports the Sunflower Movement? An Examination of Nationalist Sentiments

What is it about?

We examine the social foundation of the Sunflower Movement, an unprecedented moment in the history of Taiwan that postponed the ratification of a service trade deal with China in 2014. We explore an important factor that has long been missing in the literature of Taiwanese politics-- nationalism-- and its interaction with socialtropic views.

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Why is it important?

We find that people who express higher levels of nationalism are more responsive to the issue of rising income inequality when evaluating the Movement. The underlying logic is when people are more nationalistic they care more about the potential social impact of expanding socio-economic exchanges with another country. These results point to it being necessary to disentangle various components of nationalism and further investigate their effects on individuals’ political behaviors.