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In March 2000 when Chen Shui-bian was elected president his supporters were elated and optimistic about Taiwan having truly attained democracy. Many scholars also saw the event as significant, marking the consolidation of Taiwan's democratization effort. Soon, however, many became disappointed. Cynicism grew. Opinion polls showed declining support for the President, the legislature, political parties and politics in general. Even democracy was questioned. The causes for this were: (1) Taiwan's mixed political system, which was not ready for the opposition to become the ruling party; (2) Taiwan's style of democracy was copied from America's, in some way wrongly. This made it a system that did not fit an Asian country and allowed for ethnic politics and some other undesirable aspects of democracy to evolve; (3) the Chen Administration ignored the importance of economic development. When the economy deteriorated he sought other ways to remain in power; this further led to a deterioration of politics and hurt the image of the government.
John F. Copper (Sat,) studied this question.