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In just half a century, Taiwan transformed from an agricultural colony into an economic power, spurred by efforts of the authoritarian Republic of China government in land reform, farmers associations, and improved crop varieties. Yet overlooked is how Taiwan brought these practices to the developing world. In the Global Vanguard elucidates the history and impact of the “Taiwan model” of agrarian development by incorporating how Taiwanese experts took the country’s agrarian success and exported it throughout rural communities across Africa and Southeast Asia. Driven by the global Cold War and challenges to the Republic of China’s legitimacy, Taiwanese agricultural technicians and scientists shared their practices, which they claimed were better suited for poor, tropical societies in the developing world. These development missions, James Lin argues, were projected in Taiwan as proof of the ruling government’s modernity and technical prowess and were crucial to how the state sought to hold onto its contested position in the international system and its rule by martial law at home.
“A story of Cold War Taiwan. . . .Lin successfully demonstrates the significance of agrarian development, from implementing domestic reforms to spreading its ‘modern’ ideals to the Global South. . . Scholars of modern Asia, global history, capitalism, and the history of science and technology alike will find this book intellectually stimulating and rewarding.”
“James Lin's vivid and extensively researched study makes important contributions in two fields. . . . Lin contributes critical analysis of an early example of South–South development thought and practice to studies of global development. The cliché that creative scholarship ‘breaks new ground’ is very fitting in this case.”
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Famine Relief to Prevention: Science, Missionaries, and the Origins of Development, 1920–1948
2. Executing Contracts, Not Landlords: Capitalism through Land Reform, 1949–1968
3. The Taiwan Model: Agricultural Science, Farmers’ Associations, and Capitalism in Taiwan, 1949–1970
4. Martyrs of Development: Taiwanese Agrarian Development and the Republic of Vietnam, 1959–1975
5. “Straw Hat Diplomats”: Taiwanese Agrarian Development and Africa, 1961–1971
6. Capitalism with Socialist Characteristics: The Land Reform Training Institute, 1968–1979
7. Green Devolution: Taiwanese Vegetable Science, Nutrition, and the Developing World, 1969–1989
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index