Atlas / Organisations / Kuomintang

Kuomintang

KMT · 1919– · Taiwan · Conservative · Electoral party · coding confidence medium

+06ECmarket
+05CUtraditional
+01AUmonist
+04SCcentral
+02IDascriptive
−07CHlawful

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Cross-strait engagement, business interests, Chinese cultural identity, stability.

Economic model

Trade liberalisation with the mainland, business tax reduction, nuclear power.

Organisation of powers

Fully democratic since 1996; previously the single ruling party under martial law until 1987.

Reading note

One of the few organisations in the dataset that transitioned from a one-party regime to an ordinary opposition party without dissolving.

Check a claim about Kuomintang. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored +06

Coded +6: trade liberalisation with the mainland and business tax reduction.

  • Documented act or statuteThe 2010 cross-strait trade agreement was the party's signature economic policy.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored +05

Coded +5: Chinese cultural identity and social conservatism.

  • Documented act or statuteOpposed the 2019 same-sex marriage legislation.

AU · Organisation of power · scored +01

Coded +1: the ruling party under martial law until 1987, and an ordinary opposition since 1996.

  • Documented act or statuteMartial law ran from 1949 to 1987; the first direct presidential election was in 1996.
  • Documented act or statuteLost power in 2000 and 2016 and accepted both results.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +04

Coded +4: a unitary republic claiming a larger territory.

  • Documented act or statuteThe constitution still nominally claims the mainland.

ID · Rule of membership · scored +02

Coded +2: a Chinese national identity within a civic franchise.

  • ScholarshipCitizenship is territorial and the party competes for indigenous and Hakka votes.

CH · Method and tempo · scored −07

Coded −7: one of the few organisations here to move from one-party rule to ordinary opposition without dissolving.

  • ScholarshipThe transition was negotiated and the party remained legal throughout.

How it moved

Positions are recorded at dated anchor points tied to a documented moment — a programme adopted, a government formed, a reversal. Nothing is interpolated between them, because nothing is known between them. Figures in amber moved by two points or more from the previous anchor.

AnchorECCUAUSCIDCHWhat it is tied to
1949+01+07+10+08+06+06Martial law imposed on Taiwan; the White Terror period begins.
1987+04+06+07+06+04 00Martial law lifted after 38 years; opposition parties legalised.
2000+06+05+01+04+02−06Loses the presidency and transfers power without incident.
2024+06+05+01+04+02−07An ordinary opposition party competing in a consolidated democracy.

Net movement, 1949 to 2024: EC +5, CU −2, AU −9, SC −4, ID −4, CH −13. A trajectory records where an organisation has been. It does not forecast, and several organisations in this corpus moved a long way with no warning available in advance.

Where it came from, and what came after

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

China · Taiwan

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Kuomintang. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/kmt/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.