While Taiwan has rapidly democratized, civil-military relations have never been viewed as an independent variable that explains this success. Adopting Aguero's notion of civilian supremacy over the military, this article examines Taiwan's progress in the arenas of political neutrality, democratic control, and social impartiality of the armed forces.. As the article demonstrates, Taiwan has made considerable progress toward achieving civilian supremacy since 1987. Active military officers no longer serve in positions in the civilian government, while the armed forces no longer oversee internal security or other aspects of domestic policy. The passage of the National Defense Law in 2000 and the growing oversight role of the Legislative Yuan have strengthened the institutions of democratic control. Reconciliation efforts for past abuses by the armed forces and the elimination of mandatory military education programs have increased social impartiality. I argue that four factors explain the progress that Taiwan has achieved towards establishing civilian supremacy over the military: regime preconditions, external threat, political leadership, and democratic institutionalization.
