In this book we discuss some of the main themes which emerged following Chen Shui-bian's election and seek to elucidate the major challenges that the administration faced as well as the policies that Chen established. This serves as a foundation for the individual chapters assessing the direction that the Chen Shui-bian administration has taken in regard to the major issue areas of: domestic political dynamics; socio-political hot buttons ; and foreign policy/national security.

Each chapter address the question of how the Chen administration's first term defined, debated, and impacted specific aspects of the evolving Taiwanese polity.