Sun Yat-Sen Institute for Social Sciences and Philosophy

Sun Yat-Sen Institute for Social Sciences and Philosophy (ISSP, Chung-san Jen-wen She-huei Ke-shueh Yen-chiu-so) was inaugurated in 1975 and officially established as a national research institute in 1981. It was previously known as Institute of the Three Principles of the People (San Min Chu I Yen-chiu-so). The new name was given in 1989 to match its research aims and to promote international exchanges.

Dr. Chen Chau-nan assumed the directorship of ISSP for the first two terms, from 1981 to 1987. Dr. Mai Chao-cheng succeeded him for the next two terms, from August 1987 to July 1993. Dr. Peng Wen-shien assumed the directorship from August 1993 to July 1996. The current director is Dr. Chu Yun-Peng.

RESEARCH

There are five sections in the Institute covering six different disciplines. Research orientations of each section are summarized as follows:

HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY

The three main areas covered are Chinese social and economic history of the Ming-Ch'ing period, History of Taiwan, and History of Overseas Chinese. The major focus is Chinese Maritime History, which synthesizes researches done in the three fields. The philosophy researchers concentrate on modern and contemporary Western thought and philosophy.

SOCIOLOGY

This section consists of sociologists, social psychologists and social policy researchers. It is also organizing a "Social Image Survey," a joint project for a deeper analysis of various social changes. Current topics of research include: the comparative study of demographic changes in Taiwan and in other parts of the world; family structure and functions in Taiwan; social stratification and social mobility in Taiwan; social welfare and social security policy in Taiwan; values and attitudes toward life of Taiwan's inhabitants.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

Theoretical and empirical analyses of important political phenomena are the major fields of research in this section. Political theory, methodology, comparative politics, empirical political theory, public policy, organizational theory, and administration theory are of great interests. Current research topics focus on Western political philosophy, theory and typology of political democratization, and organizational design. Integration and corporation with other researchers are of great emphasis in this section.

ECONOMICS

Research orientation is stimulated by the rapid economic changes in Taiwan, notably the "liberalization" and "institutionalization" of the industrial, commercial, and monetary sectors of the system. Theoretical and empirical studies are both emphasized to broaden the scope of research and to contrive suggestions for the making of a "wealthy and equal" society. Current research topics include industrial relations and their regulations, labor unions and movements, adjustment of Taiwan's economic structure, the study of Taiwan's petrochemical industry, taxation of foreign income, changes and collapses of the exchange rate regimes, bargaining games: theory and application, exchange rate intervention, sterilization, and the dynamic adjustment of the exchange rate.

JURISTIC SCIENCE

Library

Research includes constitutional law, administrative law, and socio-economic law. Additional interests are the philosophy of law and joint projects with interested researchers from other sections. Studies on constitutional law include comparative surveys on fundamental rights, separation-of-powers doctrines and practices, and theories of judicial review; administrative law research includes comparative studies on administrative procedures acts, civil service laws, and judicial review of administrative decisions; and the field of socio-economic laws comprises the economic analysis of law, environmental law, labor law, and consumer-protection law.

PERSONNEL AND FACILITIES

RERSONNEL

The Institute currently has a staff of 44 full-time researchers, of whom 22 are research fellows, 12 associate research fellows, 8 assistant research fellows, and 2 research assistants. There are also 7 adjunct researchers and visiting fellows.

FACILITIES

Computer Room

The library of the Institute has a collection of over 90,000 volumes, and 1,250 microfilms. The computer room accommodates PCs for public use and the computers are connected to the computer systems of the Computing Center through its own workstation.

MAJOR RESULTS OF RESEARCH

Publications

Seminars and lectures are regularly held by ISSP and its faculty members. Scholars from other institutes, domestic and international, are often invited to present their papers as well. From 1994 to 1995 alone, the Institute held more than 107 seminars and lectures. During this period, the Institute also held 5 conferences: "The Sixth Chinese Maritime History Conference," "Conference of Recent Development and Applications of Social Science, Methodology and Statistics," "International Conference on Demographic Transition, Health Care and Social Security," "Political Community Conference," "Conference on the Performance of Research Projects in Economics, 1993," in which 91 papers were presented.

Research Room

Additionally, cooperations with international research institutes are major activities of this Institute. Up to 1995, 46 research projects are completed under such cooperations. Though some research papers conducted by ISSP members are published on journals other than those of the Institute, a substantial proportion of research papers is still published by the Institute, in the form of occasional papers, paper collections, books, and monographs. Since 1988, ISSP started to publish its own journal -- Journal of Social Sciences and Philosophy -- to promote academic exchanges, domestic or international, and interdisciplinary researches.

RESEARCH STAFF

MEMBER OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE