Analysis on the Cultural Reasons behind the Establishment of the One-partyMilitary Dictatorship by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government—From the Perspective of Chiang Kai-shek's Philosophy of Practice

Philosophy of practice was the official philosophy of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek thought that "action" has the ability to create everything and "kindness" was the original driving force of social evolution and all the revolutionary actions. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek hoped to strengthen the moral construction of party members, cadres, the army, and the general public so as to stimulate the individual "one for all" nature, which in turn encourages the people to voluntarily participate in the revolutionary process of national rejuvenation. However, in reality, the idealized philosophy of practice not only weakened the main force for the national revolution internally, but also pushed the Kuomintang into elitism. Moreover, the act of focusing on moral values and overlooking the law on the policy level has shaken the administrative basis of the institutionalization of the Nationalist Government. The so-called "elites" did not play their roles as moral models like Chiang Kai-shek expected. Instead, because of the lack of legislation, they did whatever they wished. Thus, in the context of internal and external crises, Chiang Kai-shek's political culture did not have a strong governing power, which in the end forced him to resort to military dictatorship to maintain power.